Harry Potter and The Unspeakable Power
by natweasley
Summary: Sequel to Harry Potter and The Girl Who Lived, Harry's seventh year. What fun lies in store?
1. The Best Summer

**Harry Potter and The Unspeakable Power**

**Summary**: After the trauma of his sixth year Harry and his friends enter into their last year of magical education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The trio try and balance passing their exams with fighting Voldemort and planning their futures, despite all that romance will fill the air with wedding bells ringing out. This year Harry is in more danger than ever when his enemy finds new ways to try and get the Boy Who Lived. Voldemort's presence will be felt more than ever as he steals more lives, can Harry find himself before its too late? And what adventures will he have along the way?

**If you haven't read Harry Potter and The Girl Who Lived then I would strongly urge you to do so because if you don't then this story probably won't make any sense to you. Be helpful to writers by Reading and Reviewing!

* * *

****A/N: After some rather intense badgering from a couple of reviewers i've decided to bring forward the debut of this fic. Finally the sequel is here! I've had this under my belt since May. I look forward to seeing what you all think, Happy Reading**

A/N2: As many of my faithful readers will remember, I dedicated The Girl Who Lived to my little sister Jo. I knew I wanted to dedicate this to someone and for a little while I wasn't sure who (I happen to know a lot of very wonderful people). That was until the answer came to me at the dinner table one night…

**I would like to dedicate this work of fiction to my parents, who, much like Harry, have struggled with silly prejudices that were held against them. We don't always get on because sometime their dreams for my life are different from my own but I have never ever doubted their love for me (despite what I may have said when I was getting my ears pierced!). They have always been sure to put our family before all else, even when this entailed difficult decisions, criticism for friends and family and huge sacrifices on their part but we are stronger, prouder and more dedicated people for it. They are my personal Molly and Arthur Weasley (you have no idea how literally I mean!). So thank you, mum and dad, for giving me life along with the knowledge, skills and strength to take whatever life throws at me. Thank you for my bratty siblings who keep me on my toes and make life a whole lot more interesting. Above all be gratified with this truth: I wouldn't be without you. **

* * *

A dark haired boy looked out over the scene from his bedroom window with delight; all that could be seen for miles around were green hills and pale blue sky. He knew that this wasn't really the view from his window but then again this wasn't really a window. He knew this because the wall, which this window was in the middle of, was actually the wall separating his house from the one next door and also because the house, number 12 Grimmauld Place, was standing in the heart of London. But then again this was no ordinary house and he was no ordinary boy.

He noticed that in the last year he had changed a lot, his shoulders had broadened, his jaw had squared, and the skin on his hands had toughened. Unfortunately his height was remaining the same; he often wished he could be a little bit taller but alas, he was doomed to be an average height. He pushed his hand through his messy black hair and glanced in the newly hung mirror that was just to the left of the window. His unruly hair was the same as ever, sticking up in all directions, his black-rimmed glasses still circled the emerald eyes that he had inherited from his mother. The biggest difference showed in his clothes, they actually fitted him, for the first time they were his own clothes, bought for him, to fit him. He had filled out a bit and was looking rather stocky these days, which was what came from hearty meals and very little exercise. Every time he looked in the mirror he looked more and more like his father and he wasn't about to complain about that.

Harry James Potter was no average boy; he was a wizard, who had been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for six long years. All his favourite memories involved the school and the time he spent there; in his first year he became the youngest seeker in a century for his House Quidditch team and rescued the Philosopher's stone from the clutches of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort was the darkest wizard for a century and was the man who had stolen Harry's family from him, he had started by killing Andrew and Jane Potter, Harry's aunt and uncle, and he then murdered Harold and Eliza Potter, Harry's Grand parents. To complete the killing spree he had then executed James and Lily Potter, Harry's parents. All that was now left of the Potter family were himself and his elder cousin Elizabeth.

In his second year Harry had stopped Voldemort once again and rescued Ginny Weasley from the basilisk that lay within a secret chamber in the castle. That had been the beginning of their friendship that had now blossomed in to love. In his third year he had found out he had a godfather, Sirius Black, who had been his father's best friend and previously owned the house he now stood in. He had helped him escape the wizard gaol Azkaban and a Dementor's kiss. That year he had also learned to conjure a patronus, something that many adult wizards couldn't do, and what made this achievement all the more special was the fact that the form his patronus took was a stag – his father's animagus form. In his forth year he had ended up in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and actually won it but it was because of this he was forced to duel with Voldemort and witnessed the death of his fellow student Cedric Diggory.

His fifth year was the only one he hadn't enjoyed but that was due to the fact the Ministry of Magic were interfering with the running of the school, he had been banned from playing Quidditch, had to serve countless detentions with the awful Professor Umbridge, and on top of that he was forced in to extra lessons with his least favourite teacher, Professor Snape. It was at the end of his fifth year that Harry had lost Sirius; he was killed during a battle at the Ministry of Magic while Harry had escaped thanks to the help of Professor Dumbledore. At the beginning of that summer Harry had thought that his life was on a downhill slope and was convinced that he would never be happy again. That was until he met Elizabeth; she had been pushed in to an Italian education and only returned to Britain after Sirius's death, it was during his sixth year that Harry had found out that she was his cousin and it felt as though a match had been struck in the dark room that was his heart. She had returned smiles and laughter to his life and was taking care of him like a brother, just a couple of months ago she had almost died for him. She had pulled him away from a desolate summer in Privet Drive to a comfortable and enjoyable time at Grimmauld Place.

Harry was having the best summer of his life. It was unquestionable and without doubt.

Every minute since their return to number twelve had been filled with activity, several things were happening at once. The student members of the household were hurried in to unpacking their trunks, Mrs. Weasley was preparing for an order meeting, Charlie wanted to get started on planning his wedding straightaway and Fred and George were trying to foist some of their latest inventions on the newly arrived victims. "My dearest little Gin-Gin, my favourite little sister," George said in a sugary voice as he wrapped an arm around his sisters shoulders and guided her towards the sitting room where there was a vast array of sweets laid out on the table.

"I'm your only sister," Ginny answered sceptically.

"Duly noted. How would you like to do your big brothers a little favour?" Fred responded.

"That would depend on what it involved." She was looking at the sweet covered table suspiciously. Everyone had filed into the room behind her, interested to see just what it was that the twins were up to now.

"Not much, you've just got to pick a sweet and eat it," George told her.

"And what will those sweets do to me?"

"Nothing…much," Fred answered.

"No, I won't do it." Ginny folded her arms pointedly.

"Fine! How about you Ron? You'll help us out won't you?" George turned on his next prey.

"Forget it," Ron said, taking a step backwards so that he stood on Charlie's foot.

"Watch it!" Charlie hissed painfully.

"But Ron you love to eat." Fred manically waved a sweet under the boy's nose.

"Not when it'll do something nasty to me." Ron screwed his face up and drew away from the sweet's alluring smell.

"You eat mum's chicken pie and that does something nasty to everyone," George argued. "Don't suppose there's any chance of you taking one is there Hermione?"

"Absolutely not," she replied.

"You lot are a bunch of wet blankets, you'll battle Voldemort at the drop of a hat but ask you to try a little sweet and you want to run from the room screaming. What's wrong with you? Give it here, George, I'll try it." Ellie put her hand out for the pink cellophane of the confection. She unwrapped it and popped the ball of chocolate that fell on to her hand in her mouth. She chewed it thoughtfully and after a minute she began to giggle, they all watched with breathless anticipation as her giggling got stronger and became a deep throaty chuckle, and she then began to double over with laughter. Tears trickled down her face as she collapsed on to the floor and actually started to roll about, the whole time she was laughing her head off and suddenly she stopped. "What are you going to call it?" she asked as Charlie helped her up off the floor.

"The Tickling Truffle. What d'you think?" Fred stood poised with a notepad, he had scribbled continuously while she had been laughing.

"Brilliant, I haven't laughed so much in years. The chocolate was delicious too," she enthusiastically licked her lips.

"Professor Potter, you're a trooper," George and his twin immediately stood to attention and saluted Ellie.

* * *

After the scrumptious dinner laid on by Dobby, Ellie and Charlie disappeared to the drawing room to talk about the wedding some more. The four teens remained at the kitchen table, Ron and Harry were playing Exploding snap and the girls were chatting persistently about the upcoming nuptials.

"Ellie was talking about having the wedding in the church at Hogwarts," Ginny reliably informed Hermione.

"Well I suppose it makes sense her family's history is steeped in the castle," Hermione added.

"There's a church at Hogwarts?" Harry was only half interested in the conversation they were having, to play Exploding snap you had to have your wits about you.

"It's on the north side of the castle, if you'd read Hogwarts a History then you'd know that," Hermione complained.

"You know I'm really starting to think that we should read that," he said to Ron.

"Finally," she said in exasperation.

"Nah, why read it when we have the talking version?" Ron threw his thumb in Hermione's direction. "Besides it always annoys 'Mione that we don't know everything about the castle."

"Good point," Harry agreed.

"You two can be so infuriating," Hermione snapped.

"Look at it this way, we care about you enough to spend time thinking of ways to annoy you," Harry tried to lighten the mood. "Tell me more about this church."

"It was built a year or two after the castle when Godric Gryffindor decided to marry his mistress. Three of the four founders are buried in the graveyard that sits alongside it," Hermione enlightened them. It never ceased to amaze him how much she actually knew; she was a veritable fountain of knowledge.

"How come we've never seen it?" Ron quizzed her.

"Not everything is as it seems at Hogwarts; I thought you might have learned that by now. It's hidden from view and only appears when you have need of it," she admonished.

"What date does she have in mind?" Harry asked.

"They can't settle, Charlie wants it as soon as possible but Ellie's opting for something later on in the summer," Ginny muttered as she snuggled in to his shoulder.

"Ten galleons says that Charlie wins," said Ron cheerily.

"I'll take that bet, ten galleons on Ellie getting her way," Harry retorted.

"Prepare to lose your gold four eyes!" Ron yelled triumphantly.

* * *

The next morning after a whole two minutes home Ron and Hermione were arguing loudly. "That's not fair Ron; I spent the whole of last summer here and Christmas!" Hermione protested.

"But your parents came here for Christmas so that doesn't count!" he replied.

"Ron I haven't been home in over a year!"

"So what neither have I? In case you've forgotten my home doesn't exist anymore!" he shouted at her.

"Your home is where your family are and that's here so don't you dare pretend that you know what it feels like!" she scolded. "It's only two weeks, why are you making such a fuss?"

"Because I don't want you to go!"

"You are being unbelievably selfish Ronald; I don't understand why you're being like this!" Hermione was close to tears.

"I told you that I don't want you to go!" Ron said a tad more fiercely than he intended.

"Well you're not the one making the decision. If my parents want me to go on holiday with them then I will. I'm not going to put my whole life aside so that you can get on with yours, this isn't just about what you want it's about what I want and I want to go to Italy with my parents!"

"FINE! Do what ever you want, it's not like I care or anything!" Ron stormed towards the door.

"Ronald Weasley if you leave this room now don't you dare bother trying to come back. If you go now that's it, we're finished," Hermione called. Ron paused for a second, looked around at her sorrowfully and left, slamming the door behind him. As the door clicked shut Hermione burst into tears, she leaned over the table where she and Ron had first kissed and sobbed on to the letter that lay open in front of her.

"Hermione?" Ginny said tentatively. She had opened the library door just enough to get the top half of her head through the gap. "What happened?" she asked purely out of politeness, she had heard the argument between her brother and his girlfriend from Harry's room where the pair had been canoodling away from the scrutiny of her family.

"Ron's being his usual pig-headed self," she sniffed.

"What were you arguing about?" Ginny asked gently as she sat beside her friend.

"My parents sent me a letter this morning asking me to go on holiday to Italy with them. They made a point of mentioning how little time I spent with them last summer and I just feel terrible, it's not that I don't want to go home but I feel like this is home now. My parents don't really understand, I just don't fit in with their world anymore, this is my world and they aren't able to share it," she cried.

"Tell them about it, you can't go on feeling like this, Hermione. You're seventeen, you're an adult, and you've got to start thinking about your life and where you want to go. You need to decide what you want to do and who you want to do it with."

"I think Ron has made it perfectly clear that he doesn't want to do anything with me," she sulked.

"Ron is just being his typical self, if he doesn't get his own way he goes in a strop, he'll snap out of it as soon as he realises how much he misses you," Ginny told her authoritatively. "Go to Italy, talk to your mum and dad and when you get back give that brother of mine a good smack around the head, I find that usually works quite well," she smirked.

"Thank you, Ginny." Hermione smiled as she gave the younger girl a hug.

"You're welcome, now if you don't mind I need to find Harry."

"I don't mind at all, go and have fun." Hermione tucked her parent's letter back inside its envelope and smiled encouragingly at Ginny; the red head left the library and went in search of her boyfriend.

* * *

"You need to talk to Ron," Ginny told Harry as she re-entered his bedroom.

"What's he done now?" he asked.

"He and Hermione have broken up," she sat down on his lap.

"WHAT?" He was so startled that he almost threw her from her cosy position.

"They were arguing about her taking a holiday, he doesn't want her to go and he's being so stubborn about it. She told him if he left the room that they were finished and he left." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Why does your brother have to be such a dim-witted numbskull?"

"Probably for the same reason you sometimes do!" she protested.

"Right, sorry." He shifted her weight slightly so that she slid off his knees and on to the bed. "I guess that I need to go find Ron before he actually talks himself in to breaking up with Hermione on a more permanent basis."

* * *

He went down the hall and knocked on the door that had 'Ron' emblazoned on it in bright orange. "What?" Ron's moody voice called from within.

"Why are you arguing with Hermione?" he asked, entering the room cautiously.

"None of your business," his red-haired friend snapped grumpily.

"Actually it is," Harry tried not to snap back.

"How do you figure that?"

"What would you do if Ginny and I had just argued like you and 'Mione?"

"Probably tell you to get over yourself and stop being a prat," he mumbled irritatingly.

"Precisely and Hermione is just about the closest thing that I have to a sister and that gives me the right to tell you to get over yourself and stop being a prat. She just wants to go on holiday what's the big deal?"

"The big deal? I thought you of all people would understand!" Ron yelled at him.

"Understand what exactly?" he replied, matching Ron's decibels.

"She wants to go away!"

"It's just a holiday; she'll be gone two weeks at the most." There were just no words for Harry's state of confusion.

"But it's not safe! She'll be in the middle of nowhere with no wizard's or witches to help if they go after her! There's no protection in Italy, they could kill her at any time!" Ron cried hoarsely.

"So that's what's wrong with you, you're worried that she won't be safe and she could get hurt? Why didn't you just tell Hermione that?" he asked disbelievingly.

"She would just say that I was being stupid…"

"You'd rather she thought that you were being selfish? Ron she's downstairs thinking that you're a selfish, pig-headed git who doesn't love her!"

"I do love her but I don't want her to leave."

"So go and tell her that. You won't settle properly till you do." Harry stomped from the room leaving Ron to think his predicament over.

* * *

"Ah young, Harry, just the squire we were looking for," said the sickly sweet voice of Fred Weasley. Harry froze in his tracks; his bedroom door was only about two feet away from him if he moved quickly he could dash inside and pretend that he hadn't heard them.

"Come with us." Before he had even had a chance to move an inch he had a twin on either side of him steering him towards the stairs. They kept a firm grip on Harry's arms as they marched him down the stairs and in to their room. It had originally been two rooms but they had apparently knocked down the adjoining wall to make one cavernous space. It was full of cauldrons with things bubbling away in them and the walls were adorned with complex diagrams that Harry could make neither head nor tail of. A big flashing banner hung along one wall with the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes logo flashing on it. They pushed him into a chair by the fire and seated themselves opposite him; there was a long silence as they surveyed him incredulously.

"There's something we need to talk about, Harry, it's very important," George said seriously.

"A matter of life or death, your life or death that is," Fred continued with such a grave look on his face that Harry was genuinely fearful.

"We heard you at the station yesterday," George waited for Harry to say something and when he didn't Fred carried on.

"We overheard you making a certain admission to our dear little Ginny…" Fred's hand twitched ever so slightly as though he wanted to reach deep in to Harry's throat and pull the words out of him.

"You used a certain L word…" George prompted.

"You mean I told her that I loved her?" There was more conviction in Harry's voice than there was in his chest.

"Precisely. Now George and I believe that love is a very strong word and it should be used with extreme care…"

"A nasty accident could befall someone who said it but didn't mean it," George leaned forward in his chair.

"Well that's alright then because I did mean it," Harry said boldly.

"That's what worries us," Fred said victoriously.

"What exactly are your intentions, Mr Potter?" his twin asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well are you intending to love and leave our little Gin-Gin or should we look out our top hats?" Fred inquired.

"Well you're going to need your top hats anyway when Charlie gets married but I would leave them somewhere you can find them quickly just in case you need them again soon," Harry said defiantly as he rose from his seat and left the room.

"Well, well, I think we under-estimated him Fred," George said disbelievingly. Neither would have thought the Boy Who Lived could have pulled that out of the hat.

* * *

**A/N: There we go, I hope that has satisfied those reading on from The Girl Who Lived. The next chapter is called… Freeing Neville. I won't be putting up more than one chapter a week for this because its stilla work in progress and i know it's terribly selfish of me but i don't want the pressure of writing on demand. I hope you enjoyed this, if you did please leave me a review!**


	2. Freeing Neville

**Freeing Neville: **Grimmauld Place has yet another houseguest. Plus Ellie has a big surprise in store for Harry.

With the first week of the holiday gone Hermione was ready to depart for Italy. She and Ron hadn't spoken to each other since the morning of their argument, Ron had ignored Harry's advice and avoided Hermione altogether. He only surfaced from his room at mealtimes; he spoke to the rest of the house's occupants out of absolute necessity and could be heard pacing the floor late into the night. Just before twelve o'clock on the Sunday morning Hermione deposited her heavy trunk at the bottom of the stairs and came down to the kitchen to say her goodbyes, Tonks and Remus were going to escort her to her parents safely.

"Well I'm ready for the off," she said as she pulled a salmon pink jacket on.

"I hope that you have a good time, don't forget to send us a postcard," Ginny chimed as she hugged her bushy haired friend.

"I will."

"Take care and have fun." Harry half surprised himself when he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll do my best," she smiled warmly.

"You'll love Italy, it's so beautiful. I wrote a list of some of the best places to visit, let me know what you think and I also noted some useful phrases." Ellie thrust several bits of paper in to her hand and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Ellie, that's so thoughtful!"

"I rather wish I was going with you, there are some things I miss about the place. I daresay you'll understand what I mean when you come back."

After several other goodbyes Hermione left the room without a word from Ron, Remus had just opened the front door when she heard a mumbled voice behind her. "Um…Hermione?" Ron was stood in the hallway with stooping shoulders and an apologetic look on his face.

"Yes, Ron?"

"I hope Italy's nice and that you enjoy spending time with your mum and dad," he said with a pained look.

"Oh, Ron!" She flung her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder. When she emerged her eyes were red and teary. He gave her a quick kiss and sent her on her way.

* * *

"So what are we going to do now?" Ron asked when he returned to the kitchen; Harry noticed that his best friend's eyes were fairly moist.

"We put Operation Trevor in action," Harry answered.

"And what exactly is Operation Trevor?" Ron puzzled.

"It is our plan to go and get Neville," Ginny supplied.

"We need a plan to go and get Neville? We can't just ask Ellie?"

"No we don't and yes we can but Harry was very bored yesterday," Ginny sniggered.

"Oh I'm sorry that you weren't interested in a bit of danger and deceit!" Harry sniped sarcastically.

"Danger and deceit?" Ron was starting to wish he hadn't spent so much time in his room over the last week.

"I wanted to go and get Neville on our own but spoilsport here threatened to tell Ellie if I did." Harry wagged his finger at Ginny accusingly.

"You honestly think that I'd have need Ginny to tell me what you were up to?" Ellie was standing in the kitchen doorway with an empty glass in her hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Harry, you really need to be more careful of where you discuss these little plans of yours, I had hoped that by now you would understand that certain rooms in this house have ears and the drawing room is one," she smiled superiorly as she poured some pumpkin juice in to her glass.

"So you knew everything?" Harry felt so stupid.

"Everything from plan A through D, why didn't you just ask?"

"Just wanted to put a bit of excitement back into the holiday," he muttered.

"Well how's this for excitement, my granddad is coming later this afternoon to put charms around the garden," she grinned.

"Garden? What garden?" Ron's ears pricked up.

"The one at the back of the house, we had a bit of a discussion about it and it was agreed that it would be good for you to get some fresh air and not be cooped up all summer. It also means that you three will be able to keep your Quidditch practice up."

"That's great! What time is he coming at?" Harry couldn't wait to get on his broom and play with his fellow teammates in a non-competitive manner.

"Around two, which gives us just enough time to go and get Neville before he arrives," she smiled as she rose from the table and approached the fire.

* * *

Ellie was the first to jump in the fire and call 'Longbottom Cottage' loudly and clearly. The three teenagers followed her and when they materialized at the other end they were in a quaint hallway that was painted a rustic shade of yellow. Floral curtains hung from the small windows and the ceiling was lined with weathered oak beams, which echoed the typical countryside sideboard that was lined-up against one wall and the comfortable rocking chair that was sitting in another corner. When the last person, Ron, had emerged Ellie began her search for the house's inhabitants. "Mrs. Longbottom?" she called, entering the sitting room. Nobody was in there so she moved on to the next room.

"Where exactly are we?" Harry asked after several more empty rooms including the dinning room and the study.

"Neville's house," Ellie replied, giving him a look that clearly wondered just how stupid he was.

"Really? Here I was thinking that it was the Ministry of Magic." He gave himself a mocking smack on the head. "I meant whereabouts in the country are we?"

"Oh, Barnoldswick it's near Burnley in Lancashire," Ellie informed him as she stepped in to the warm country kitchen. Harry's mind flicked back to the geography lessons he had taken at the Muggle School he attended. Lancashire was somewhere in the north around Blackpool, which made sense, Neville had once told them about his Great Uncle Algie pushing him off Blackpool Pier. When there was no one in the kitchen Ellie seated herself at the table, "I suppose we'll have to wait for them then." Silence fell upon the group as they examined the room they now sat in; it was a quintessential rural kitchen. They were sitting at a massive wooden table that had obviously seen a good few meals, there were plate and scorch marks all over the surface and slightly stained floral cushion pads softened the harsh wooden chairs. There was a large fire on one wall above which hung a family portrait, it had been taken when Neville was just a baby, Frank and Alice stood at the back cooing over their tiny son while a woman that could only be a younger Granny Longbottom sat proudly in front of them. After ten or fifteen minutes the unmistakable sound of a fire roaring in the grate reached their ears followed by a loud woman.

"I don't know why she gives you them, I suppose there must be something in her head that makes her think he has to give yet another wrapper to you." A short broad woman came bustling in to the room. "Elizabeth! How wonderful to see you and who is it you've brought with you?" the woman's demeanor changed almost immediately, Harry noticed the distinct fondness in her voice.

"Harry, Ron, and Ginny," Ellie indicated each teen as she said their name.

"Of course, I've met them before but my memory isn't what it used to be. Has something happened?" She began shuffling cups and a kettle. Neville came trudging through the doorway wearily but his face brightened when he saw their guests.

"No, we just thought we would come and invite Neville to stay with us for a week or two, what do you think?" she was smiling at Neville encouragingly.

"I don't see why not, it'd get him away from here for a while." Mrs. Longbottom placed a cup of tea in front of Ellie. "Why don't you go and pack your things Neville? You can take your friends with you." Neville evidently didn't need to be told twice he disappeared from the room so quickly that Harry thought he had Apparated but then reminded himself that Neville wasn't old enough. By the time the other three had reached the bottom of the stairs Neville was already on the way back down with his packed trunk.

"I'm ready!" he trilled bursting back in to the kitchen.

"Good," Ellie grinned at the bemused expressions of the others. "You'll need to read this first," she handed him a bit of paper similar to the one that Harry had been given before he arrived at Grimmauld Place for the first time. Sure enough when he glanced over Neville's shoulder he recognized the loopy handwriting of their Headmaster spelling out the words I The Headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. I

"I need you to memorize that, Neville, if you don't the results could be disastrous. Say it to yourself over and over again for a minute and let me know when you've got it," Ellie told him seriously.

"I remember when his father got that bit of paper for the first time," Mrs. Longbottom said with just the hint of a sniff. "We've got a proud family tradition with the order." She huffed her large chest out further.

"I know, your family has done themselves proud and Neville has done no less, ready?" Ellie smiled proudly at the youngest Longbottom.

"I think so; I'll see you soon, Gran." Neville gave his grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek before nodding at Elizabeth.

"Thank you for the tea Augusta, it was lovely to see you again." Ellie gave the older woman a warm hug.

"All of you take care and you better behave yourself, Neville Longbottom, or you will be in serious trouble when you get back," she told her grandson sternly as she watched him disappear into the fire.

* * *

"Wow!" Neville breathed when he transpired in the fireplace. The kitchen he had arrived in was easily twice the size of the one he had just departed.

"Welcome to our home," Harry said encouragingly.

"Some home!"

"That it is," Ellie had suddenly appeared to the left of Ginny; she had apparated with Neville's trunk.

"Where did you find this place?" Neville's eyes were darting around the room trying to take everything from the table and its fifteen seats to the magical windows that Ellie had conjured two days previously.

"Ellie and I inherited it from Sirius," Harry told him somewhat mournfully.

"Oh." Neville's face fell at the realization he had caused his friend some pain.

"He was a generous man. Why don't you take Neville's trunk upstairs and decide where he's going to sleep?" Ellie swiftly changed the subject.

"I just thought he'd take Hermione's room?" Harry had just assumed that with the other bedroom free it made sense.

"And if that's what Neville wants then he can. Give him the guided tour," she smiled.

"Okay. Come on Neville, this way," Harry forged ahead grabbing one end of Neville's trunk while Ron grabbed the other. Neville trundled along behind them with Ginny.

* * *

"So this is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, what exactly does the Order do?" Neville asked as they marched up the staircase to the first floor.

"They fight Voldemort. Your mum and dad were members," Ginny mentioned helpfully.

"I've heard things here and there about it but never enough to know what it was all about." Neville poked his head round a doorframe and saw the spacious library beyond it.

"All there really is to know is that we've got people everywhere and we're doing what we can to get rid of Voldemort. Harry, would you slow down? You're going to pull my arm out its socket!" Ron exclaimed, massaging his shoulder slightly.

"Sorry," Harry blushed. He hadn't realized just how fast he was walking and had forgotten that Ron had the other end of the trunk, Ron didn't walk to anywhere quickly unless it involved food of some kind.

"Since when was it 'we'? You're not a member of the Order yet, Ron," Ginny reminded him.

"Not yet but I will be soon, we probably all will."

"Better believe it," Harry said enthusiastically.

They scurried up the next lot of stairs. "This is my room," Harry narrated as he pushed open his bedroom door.

"I like the colour; it's nearly the same shade as mine." Neville peered out of Harry's magical window. "I know that Hermione's room is free but could I stay in here with you Harry?"

"If that's what you want…"

"I think so; it's a lot like home."

"Wait till you see Ron's room, its tangerine!" Harry laughed at the look on Neville's face.

"That sounds…interesting," the round-faced boy tried for an enthusiastic tone.

"Interesting? It's a thousand times better than that!" Ron grabbed Neville's forearm and pulled him down the hall excitedly.

"Poor Neville, he won't know what's hit him." Ginny shook her head gently and smiled as the two boys rushed into her brothers shocking room.

"Look at us, all alone," she said suggestively.

"They're only down the hall, Gin," Harry told her with a raised eyebrow.

"You know, Harry, for someone who fights Voldemort every other day you really aren't all that daring," Ginny mocked.

"Really? How daring would you like me to be?" he asked as he took a step closer to her.

"About this daring." Ginny reached out the rest of the distance between them, pulled him towards her sharply and planted a very zealous kiss on his lips.

"Urgh! Do you have to do that while we're around?" Ron complained from the doorway. He had returned from his room with Neville who still looked slightly traumatized by the experience.

"Sorry, mate," Harry apologized half heartedly.

"He may be, but I'm not!" Ginny pulled him back in for another kiss. Ron made another disgusted noise before saying to Neville.

"Come on, I can't stand to watch that any longer. They could be at it for hours!" They heard him marching away down the stairs with the still dazed Neville.

"Now you weren't really sorry, were you?" Ginny pouted at her boyfriend.

"No," he assured her.

"Prove it," she whispered in his ear.

* * *

By the time they had completed their tour of the house and returned to the kitchen Professor Dumbledore was sitting at the table with a steaming cup in front of him, he was having a lively conversation with his granddaughter, or rather she was having a lively conversation and he was listening patiently. Harry inwardly marvelled at the pair, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled dotingly and a loving smile played on the corners of the old man's mouth. "Ah, I see that the youngsters have returned from their no doubt tiring expedition." Dumbledore's gaze shifted from the young woman in front of him to the four teenagers standing in the doorway.

"Good afternoon Professor," Harry was the first to venture forth.

"Harry, how are you, Neville?"

"I'm fine thank you, Professor," Neville replied.

"Very good to hear that. I'm sure that you'll all be much better once you have access to the garden and can start practicing your Quidditch," he smiled mischievously. "Shall we Elizabeth?"

"By all means. Do you four want to come and watch?" she barely finished her question before they nodded at her enthusiastically. Dumbledore lead the way from the kitchen back up the half staircase to the entrance hall. There was a door at the top of the stairs that none of them had ever noticed before, their headmaster waved his wand and the lock made loud click. The door opened on to a long dark, dank corridor with large cobwebs hanging across the width of the passage itself, Ron gasped loudly.

"Not to worry, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said comfortingly, he waved his wand so that the cobwebs, and presumably the spiders that occupied them, disappeared. Ron's features visibly relaxed and he let out a breath he had been holding in. At the end of the hallway there was another door, covered in what looked like several inches of dust and grime. With another wave of the elder wizard's wand it vanished and the door swung open to reveal the garden of number 12.

Never before had Harry seen such an incredible garden, it was similar in size to the grounds that come attached to manors and castles. He couldn't help but think of what the Dursley's would say if they could see this. The garden had always been the Dursley's pride and joy and he could just imagine that they would turn green with envy at the sight of his beautiful manicured, beyond enormous, grounds. Many trees stood tall and proud, providing shade from the bright summer sun that was hanging over London. There was a pond full of brightly coloured fish, a large wooden picnic table, and hundreds of vibrantly coloured flowers.

"Professor Sprout did a wonderful job didn't she?" Ellie said to Harry's gob smacked expression.

"Professor Sprout?" he asked still in awe. He was glad to see he wasn't the only one gawping, Ron and Ginny wore similar expressions and Neville looked to be on the verge of fainting.

"She came in last week and tidied up, you wouldn't believe the infestations that were out here, she found an entire family of Grindylows living in the bottom of the pond. Down at the end of the garden, amongst some of the weeds the gnomes had practically made themselves a whole village. You'll need to keep back while we perform the spell, it's a complex bit of magic and if it's interrupted then we'll have a lot of problems on our hands," she added seriously. Dumbledore nodded his assent.

The two stepped out in to a clear space that was drenched by sunlight; they stood side by side as they began to chant in Latin.

_"Rapio is locus ex visum… velieris is ex nostrum hostilis… servo is intus inquisitor animus… tantum qui teneo verum vadum animadverto quis sileo hic…rapio is locus…"_

A wind gathered slowly and began to circle the still pair, their long hair and robes whipped about in the gales that surrounded them, suddenly the wind stopped and red circles began to pulse from them, these rings widened until they came in to contact with the boundaries of the garden where they disappeared. The red circles became fainter and eventually everything stopped.

"That should prove satisfactory," Dumbledore said to Elizabeth.

"So who wants to get their broom?" Ellie asked them, she had a faint glow in the back of her eyes that appeared to be dancing, Harry wasn't sure if this was because of the powerful spell she had just performed or her excitement at the prospect of Quidditch.

(A/N: the Latin words translate as follows… _Steal this place from view… hide it from our enemies…keep it within the trusted soul…only those who know the truth shall see what rests here.)_

* * *

The five of them messed about outside for a majority of the afternoon. Just after four the house began to fill up with the adults who were home for the evening, they all filed out in to the garden to watch the Quidditch practice that was on going. Ellie was rather frightening in her role of captain she was behaving like a deranged drill sergeant; she made Oliver Wood look like a lazybones and made Harry and Ron feel deeply ashamed.

"Typical Potter, ordering everyone around," Moony heckled from the sidelines.

"Is that right? How about we have a little game of Quidditch?" Ellie teased her godfather.

"Does now suit you?" Remus was not intimidated in anyway.

"Absolutely, may I keep Harry, Neville, Ron and Ginny?"

"If you wish, who else would you like?" Remus rose off the grass and began to remove his travelling cloak.

"Fred and George please." She beckoned the twins over.

"You're not going to pick me?" Charlie protested.

"No, she's seen the light and realized that she picked the wrong brother!" George grabbed Ellie and swung her in to a low bow. "Elizabeth, my darling, how long I've waited for you." He then began to kiss the air around her; Ellie giggled furiously, which only annoyed Charlie further.

"Sorry, Charlie, but I'm putting a young guns team together here," she said when she finally overcame her fit of the giggles.

"So I'm not a young gun anymore?"

"In a word…No" she chirped, this left her husband to be speechless.

"Not to worry, Charlie, you're a cert for my team," Remus clapped the young man on the shoulder. "I'll have Bill, Tonks, Kingsley, Arthur… and I'll take Dung as well," He was studying the increasingly large crowd carefully. Harry could only assume that an Order meeting had been scheduled. There were several cries of '_Accio Broom!_' as the opposition called for their broomsticks. Ellie beckoned her team forward.

"Right, Ron, you'll be keeper, Harry, you can seek, Fred and George, you're back to being beaters, me, Ginny and Neville will be the chasers…"

"Can I ask a question?" Fred interrupted.

"Fire away," there was a small hint of impatience in Ellie's voice, apparently Quidditch brought out the animal in his cousin.

"By any chance were you a Muggle soldier in a past life?" Fred grinned mischievously.

"What makes you ask that?"

"Because you're acting exactly like this general somebody or other that I read about once, could have been custard," George answered.

"Stop talking nonsense and let's get a game plan together." She then proceeded to tell them what the plan of attack was. She and Remus conjured the goal posts on either side of the garden and then the game began in earnest, Ellie told her team off several times for being complacent and punched Fred in the arm when he tried to calm her down.

"Come on, Ellie, they're just a bunch of old people!" To be fair for a bunch of old people they were doing pretty well, they were only a maximum of ten points behind during the entire course of the game. It was over an hour before Harry spotted the snitch, it was floating at Dung's right ankle, both he and Charlie spotted it at the same time and raced forwards, flat on their brooms. Charlie would have reached it first if it weren't for Ellie who saw what was happening and flew straight into Charlie's path, unfortunately he didn't have time to stop and bundled straight through her, they became a large ball of person and broomstick until they collided with the ground and there was a very loud and sickening crack.

Everyone rushed forward to find Charlie sprawled on top of Ellie, whose face was buried in his armpit; she was being poked in the nose by the twigs from the tail end of his broom. "Are you Ok?" he asked her urgently. "What cracked?" Panic was etched in to his features. Ellie arched her back and pulled her now broken broomstick from underneath her; she dropped it on the ground beside her and began to grin inanely at the many heads of the group that were peering down at her.

"What's wrong? Do you have a concussion?" Remus asked with concern.

"No, I want to do that again, it was fun. You did get the snitch didn't you, Harry?" She gazed at him intently. He held the golden sphere up to the light for her approval. "Wah-hey! Well done team!" she called enthusiastically.

"You do realize that if you hadn't flown in front of me I'd be holding that snitch, don't you?" Charlie asked suspiciously.

"Of course I do, why do you think I did it? I wasn't about to lose to a bunch of old timers," she chortled.

"Watch who you're calling old timers, you're mother would have been one of these 'old timers' and let me tell you something, Elizabeth Potter, you may be a revelation on that broom but your mother would have been able to outstrip you, even on her old and decrepit broomstick," Remus scolded.

"Since when was I an old timer?" Tonks and Bill said at the same time, they looked at each other and laughed.

"Since you started doing things with scary synchronization," Ron answered, everyone laughed some more.

"Dinner's ready," Mrs. Weasley called from the back door. "Elizabeth? Why on earth are you on the ground?"

"Don't worry, Mum, she was just trying to kill the both of us," Charlie said nonchalantly, he reached out a hand to pull her from the floor.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley looked at them all with a very confused expression.

"Just a new Quidditch manoeuvre, Molly," Arthur strode towards his wife.

"I see. Hurry up everyone, there's going to be an Order meeting and I want everything tidied away before Dumbledore gets back. Thank heavens for Dobby!" Everyone followed her inside and settled down to their delicious dinner.

* * *

While the Order meeting was in session the four, who were excluded from it on the basis of age, settled in to the sitting room. Ron brought the chessboard from the drawing room in for him and Neville to play a game, while Harry and Ginny watched them from the couch. Ginny was once again curled up in Harry's lap, she had taken to sitting there as of late and he certainly wasn't about to complain. Neither was Ron, as long as they didn't start snogging the face off each other in front of him. Snuffles gave them a fright when she snuck in to the room stealthily and, without warning, pounced up in to Ginny's lap, where she purred loudly at her owners stroking.

It was three hours before the meeting was closed; Ellie and Charlie came to check on them. "Everybody all right? How many times has he beaten you, Nev?" Charlie grinned at a completely dejected Neville.

"Six and still counting," the boy replied.

"Oi Ron, give the poor guy a break!" he reprimanded his brother.

"What took so long?" Harry was far more interested in knowing what had taken three hours to discuss.

"Professor Snape was giving a report," Ellie answered him still clearly busy thinking.

"On what?" Harry had a feeling he might be pushing his luck by asking for this kind of information but was surprised when she answered.

"No one has seen or heard from Voldemort since the attack in Hogsmeade." She shivered so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable.

"Not even the Death Eaters?" Ginny asked.

"Not even them, it's like he's just disappeared from the face of the planet all together. This isn't good," she said solemnly.

"But if he hasn't been in touch with the Death Eaters doesn't it mean that something's wrong? Why would he hide from them unless something was up?" Surprisingly it was Ron who was being insightful; Hermione must be rubbing off on him.

"Or he's doing something big, something so important that he doesn't trust anyone else to know about." She wore a dark expression.

"But surely he would tell someone, Wormtail or Malfoy?" Ginny provided.

"Not these days, Wormtail was only really useful when Voldemort need his help to survive; he got some serious reprimanding when it got out that I was still alive. As for Malfoy, he's failed one too many times if you ask me." There was a faint indication of a smile brewing in the back of Ellie's eyes, she loved getting one over on Malfoy.

"So what happens now?" although Neville was still fairly new to the idea of the Order he appeared to be catching up quite quickly.

"We wait." Charlie was staring out of the front window. He settled on to the settee beside Ellie, who immediately snuggled in to his shoulder and after a little while fell asleep. Harry decided to give Neville a break by playing Ron at wizard's chess, the game dragged on for more than an hour and once again Harry was beaten spectacularly.

"You need more practice mate," Ron advised.

"Hmm? Huh? What?" Ellie murmured as she woke from her peaceful slumber with a start. "What time is it?"

"Just gone eleven," Charlie answered.

"Oh, well come on everyone go on up to bed." She began trying to shuffle the youngsters from the room.

"But it's summer!" Harry protested.

"I don't particularly care, it's time you lot were in bed."

"You just want the room empty so you and Charlie can get up to stuff you can't when everyone else is around. What was it you said Charlie's hands did for you?" Ginny admirably tried to embarrass the older girl in to submission.

"Ginny, stop! Don't take this conversation any further, I don't want to know!" Harry put his hands over his ears and began singing la-de-da as loud as he could, he Ron and Neville practically ran from the room. Realizing that her plan had backfired, Ginny too made a swift exit.

"Harry, wait! Come back here for a second," Ellie shouted from the foot of the stairs, he doubled back down two flights to talk to her. "Um…right…"

"Is everything ok?" He was a little bit concerned by her expression.

"Well, I really don't know how to say this to you so I'm just going to come out with it. I wanted to take you somewhere, Godric's Hollow to be precise." She was staring at him with a pained look.

"Godric's Hollow? What's that?"

"It's where your parents used to live," she said very quietly.

"Oh," he didn't really know what else to say.

"I'd understand if you don't want to go, it might be too hard. I'm not exactly looking forward to it myself."

"I want to go, I'll be ok. Is it just me and you going?"

"I thought we should take Remus with us."

"I think that's a good idea, what time are we leaving at?"

"About ten o'clock."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow morning, Ellie." Harry headed up the staircase for the second time.

"Good night, Harry." He saw her disappear back in to the sitting room and saw from the shadows that were playing on the walls that Charlie had risen to greet her.

"So, Ms. Potter, what exactly is it you said my hands do to you?" Charlie asked seductively, Harry cringed.

"Well…" Ellie whispered, Harry saw the shadow forms of his cousin and fiancé kiss before the living room door swung shut softly.

**A/N: Don't you just hate overhearing things like that?**

**The next chapter is going to be… Return to Godric's Hollow. **


	3. Return To Godric's Hollow

**Return to Godric's Hollow: **Ellie and Remus take Harry back to his childhood home, Neville has an important question and Ellie springs another surprise on Harry.

The next morning Ellie woke Harry at nine o'clock sharp for breakfast. When he reached the kitchen only a few of the adults were up, namely Ellie, Remus, Tonks, Charlie, Molly and Arthur. "Morning, Harry," Remus said in a voice that was sadder than usual. "Are you sure that you still want to come today?" there was something in his tone of voice that caught in Harry's chest, Remus clearly wasn't thrilled at the idea of visiting the home of his former best friends again.

"I do, but I thought that the house had been destroyed the night that Voldemort came?" He had been tempted to say the night my parents died but he couldn't bring himself.

"It was, but magical homes can rebuild themselves when asked to." The werewolf's eyes were so very gloomy. Tonks wrapped her tiny hand around his rather larger one and gave him a reassuring look.

"So someone had the house rebuilt? Who?" Harry tried not to press too hard for answers.

"Me, I ask my granddad to arrange it," Ellie entered in to the conversation. Although she was better at hiding the sadness, Harry could still see that it was there.

"Why?" The truth be told, knowing that he where he was going in the morning had made Harry's sleep restless. It wasn't that he didn't want to go, he did, he wanted to go more than anything in the world but he wasn't as sure that he was ready for it. Godric's Hollow was the home he had forgotten, the one he had shared with his parents prior to their death and he wanted to see it. When he thought of homes like The Burrow and Grimmauld Place you could tell a lot about the owners from the way the house was furnished and decorated, and every picture on the wall told a story. He wanted to see the home that his parents had created; he wanted to hear the stories told by their pictures.

"I just thought that it was about time that we went back there, it's been a long time," she replied.

"Erm…could I ask a favour?" He had thought of something that might make it a little easier to deal with.

"Of course you can," Remus answered.

"Can Ginny come with us?" Harry saw his guardian's share a fleeting look, was it delight?

"If that's what you want," Ellie told him kindly.

"It is, I'll go and ask her if she wants to come." He left the table and made his way up to Ginny's room. He knocked softly several times without any response and was going to go back downstairs when he decided to open the door just an inch. He could see Ginny fast asleep in her bed; he slipped inside the room and sat down beside her. She looked like a flame- haired angel with her pale skin and the content expression; she stirred slightly and rolled on to her side. "Ginny?" he whispered. He called her name several times; on each occasion he spoke a little louder until her eyes fluttered open. She gazed at him for a moment, evidently confused by his presence.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Ellie and Remus are taking me to Godric's Hollow today and I'd really like you to come with us," he said hopefully.

"Godric's Hollow?"

"It was where my parent's lived; I really want you to be there."

"Come with you? Are you sure?" she spoke with such concern.

"Positive, I'm not sure that I could take it without you."

"Can you give me five minutes to get washed and dressed?" she smiled.

"I'll wait downstairs for you." He rose to leave the room but felt her gentle hand on his arm; she was now kneeling on her bed. He tried desperately to ignore the fact that her pyjamas were on the skimpy side of things. He could see a good four inches of the bare skin covering her stomach. She pulled him in close and kissed him gently. "What was that for?"

"Nothing," she whispered.

"Right, you've got five minutes," he grinned devilishly and went back to the kitchen to wait for her. She appeared a grand total of ten minutes late. "I thought you said you'd only be five minutes?" he teased.

"Well I took longer than expected, I didn't realise we were in such a rush," she answered indignantly.

"We're not; your mums just about to put out breakfast."

"So you're telling me off for nothing?

"Pretty much yeah," he grinned.

"You'll pay for that, Potter!" There was a scheming glint in her eye that told Harry he was going to be in very deep trouble when they got back.

"Young love!" Ellie exclaimed. Mrs. Weasley laid out the breakfast table as it was Dobby's day off and everyone munched in silence. When they were finished Ellie and Remus waited patiently by the fire for the two teens.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Charlie and Tonks had been whispering together for a minute before he put the question to his girlfriend and her godfather, Tonks nodded her approval at the query.

"I think we'll be alright." Remus looked at Ellie for a moment. "Yes, we'll be ok. Harry, Ginny, are you ready?"

"Just coming," Ginny mumbled with a mouthful of sausage. They joined Ellie and Remus at the fire, assuming that they were going by floo but Remus pulled an old wallet from his robes and held it out for the others to grab hold. With a short sharp tug behind his navel Harry was deposited in Godric's Hollow.

* * *

They had landed in the middle of what was blatantly a Muggle village. It was full of little rural cottages that had been built from moss-covered bricks, many, many years ago. Some of them even had thatched roofs and little smoke-emitting chimneys. The houses were arranged in a kind of circle with a large grassy park area in the centre with some climbing frames and swings for little children. Remus led the way across the road, which was devoid of cars and Harry noticed that the older man had a slight grip on Ellie's hand. Ginny linked her own hand with his and tugged him along in his guardian's wake. In front of them stood an average sized, two-storey cottage, it had a small front garden that was enclosed by a three-foot high stonewall and a little wooden gate. You could tell that the garden had once been well kept but had fallen prey to the ravages of nature in the absence of proper care. A little plaque hanging to the left of the front door read 'Potter House' it was swinging back and forth gently in a light summer breeze. Remus stood to one side allowing Ellie access to the heavy mahogany front door. She rummaged in a pocket of her robes for a moment or two before pulling out a hefty wrought iron key which, when pushed in to the lock and twisted, gave a loud and satisfying click. The door swung open to reveal a pastel yellow hallway that was blanketed by a thick and luxurious beige carpet. The first room they came upon was the living room, it was a deep cherry red, and there were three plush looking settees with extra plump cushions. The vocal point of the room was the impressive fireplace that was in the middle of one wall; above it Harry found his family waving back at him. His mum, dad, aunt, uncle and grandparents were all smiling heartily out of their family portrait. 

His Grandparents were sitting in the centre of the picture with his father and uncle standing proudly behind them, his mother and aunt were kneeling down on either side to keep a close eye on a tiny Ellie who was bouncing newborn Harry up and down on her knee. Harry felt a lump rising from his chest to his throat, he was fighting the tears so hard that it was actually painful, his grip tightened on Ginny's hand, she returned it with a little squeeze and a gentle smile. She was surprised when a gasp of laughter escaped his lips, a couple of the tears he had been fighting slipped out during his lack of concentration. He pointed her to the picture where Ellie was jovially sticking her tongue at her mother and trying desperately to get Harry to do the same. In the meantime Lily had placed her forehead on the ground and Harry could tell from the convulsing of her slight frame that she had succumbed to fits of laughter, from their position behind their mother and father James and Andrew couldn't see what was causing the commotion and they stumbled round to the front for a better look. James doubled over in laughter and Andrew began to scold everyone, including his Mum and Dad who were smirking at the hubbub in front of them, the elder Potter brother was wagging his finger in a fashion that reminded Harry of Molly Weasley. Every time her father wiggled his finger at her Ellie wiggled her tongue right back and it wasn't long before Andrew had also slumped beside his wife laughing cheerily.

Ellie watched the whole thing with tears cascading down either cheek; she smiled at Harry sadly and said, "Feel free to look around." Remus was clutching her arm very tightly, Harry wasn't sure if it was to steady himself or her. Ellie pressed on towards what looked like the kitchen while Harry headed in the direction of the stairs with Ginny. The first room they came to on the upstairs landing appeared to have been Harry's nursery, a baby's cot was in the middle of the room and it was adorned with Quidditch bedcovers. The little curtains that draped over one end had some little snitches zooming around the fabric; Ginny grinned at him as she reached in to the cot and pulled out a cuddly toy that was shaped like a broomstick.

"What d'you reckon, baby Harry's favourite cuddly toy?" She said shaking the soft broom in his face.

"I could believe that," he smiled. He looked over the room carefully and found another toy broomstick; it was an older version of the one that Harry had seen a pair of young witches playing on at the Quidditch World Cup. In a trunk at the bottom of his wardrobe he found a complete set of Quidditch balls. He had many toys, some which were obviously wizard toys –such as a fluffy snitch, while others were evidently Muggle – in particular, a plastic, bubble-blowing Postman Pat figurine.

He left Ginny to her own devices as he headed back out on to the landing and ventured in to the next room, he could tell that this had once been his parent's bedroom; each bedside cabinet bore a picture of one of his parents. A picture of the guests from their wedding was perched; pride of place on their chest of drawers and in a little alcove between the wardrobes his mother and father's brooms stood respectfully side-by-side. He smiled at them mournfully for a moment before moving on to explore the rest of the house. Two adult toothbrushes and two small children's ones waited patiently for their owners in their holder by the bathroom sink. The third bedroom was a little girl's room, Harry presumed that this had been done for Ellie's benefit; it would certainly explain his cousin's fondness for the colour pink. Everything in the room that could be pink was, this varied greatly in shades from the pastel pink on the walls to the hot pink of the bed covers and the near lilac of the miniature loveseat that was sitting in one corner. The ceiling mirrored the summer sky from outside with the exception that the clouds that spelled out words like 'Broom', 'Quidditch', 'Snitch', 'Wand' and some simple spells like 'Reparo!' Harry smiled up at it as the words 'Potter's Rule!' drifted from one side of the room to the other and disappeared.

"Your dad took family pride very seriously, the first word you ever said was Potter," Ellie's eyes glistened as they flitted over what had become her third bedroom in six months. The room itself was jolly but it came attached to the horrible thought that four people had died before she got here and two more had died before she left. "What do you think of the place?"

"It was just like I expected," he wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that.

"Really?" she smiled hopefully.

"Yeah…well no…I'm not sure. I didn't really know what to expect but what I've found hasn't surprised me. Does that make any sense?"

"I think so. Why don't you come down stairs and see the rest of the place?"

"Okay, where'd Ginny get to?"

"I'm right here," she said emerging from his parent's room looking very solemn.

"Are you alright Ginny?" Ellie asked.

"I'll be fine." She smiled falsely but Ellie didn't seem to notice. Harry did though and made a mental note to ask her about it later. The red head gave him a rather strange look and then glanced over her shoulder, back in to the room she had emerged from. As he walked past Harry stole a quick glance in, a small lime-green St Mungo's uniform had been laid on the corner of the bed tenderly. His breath caught in his chest for a second.

"Was my Mum a healer?" he suddenly asked.

"She was." Ellie was stood on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder, when she spotted the uniform she gave Ginny an appraising sort of look. "She had a very caring nature." Ellie led them down another staircase that brought them to the kitchen where Remus was sitting at the table looking thoroughly distressed. In that moment Harry felt for his guardian more than ever, looking at the destroyed expression now gracing his handsome features reminded Harry just how much Remus had lost in the last sixteen years.

"Remus…" he considered asking if he was ok but decided at the very last moment that this was a very stupid question, he was quite obviously not okay.

"I just need a minute, Harry; it's a little bit harder than I thought it would be. I…" he could go no further as his voice died away.

"We understand," Ginny said compassionately, for neither Ellie nor Harry could find their voices.

"Thank you, Ginny," Remus offered when he had regained his composure. "Why don't you both nip down to the study, there are some very useful books down there," Remus pointed to an almost invisible door under the stairs behind them. Purely out of interest Harry and Ginny pulled the door open and descended down the staircase that was revealed, the bottom step exposed a spacious basement study come library. It was very reminiscent both of the library at Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place. Harry walked along the shelves pulling out random books, _What To Do When The Worst Happens by Healer Hippocrates Smethwyck, Triumphs Of The Dark Force Defence League by Justus Pilliwickle, Healing In The Home by Dilys Derwent, Defence Spells to Save Lives by Elladora Elphwick,_ to name but a few. He grabbed a few of the more interesting defence textbooks to take home with him to read.

"Moony was right, there are a lot of useful books in here," he commented to Ginny.

"They even kept their old school books," Ginny pulled two copies _The Standard Book of Spells Grade 7 by Miranda Goshawk_ off the shelf she was examining.

"Just think how it'll look," Harry whispered in her ear as he stepped beside her.

"What do you mean?" she puzzled.

"When our two books are lined up there as well, and then of course there'll be our kid's editions as well," he smiled at her.

"Do you really mean it Harry?" she asked excitedly.

"I do," he grinned at her, he wasn't sure if she realized that she was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Say that again," she pouted.

"I do. Now it's your turn," he prompted.

"I do," she smiled and kissed him.

"Now, now you two, no snogging in the study. What would your parents say?" Ellie had appeared in the room and was staring at Harry accusingly.

"Actually, Ellie, I daresay that James is up there somewhere cheering Harry on," Remus smiled properly for the first time that day.

"Remus, you and I are supposed to be acting responsibly and rationally, we are not supposed to be encouraging our charge to lock lips with poor unsuspecting teenage girls!" she told her godfather authoritatively.

"I must apologize to Ginny for what I'm about to say… but she is hardly a 'poor unsuspecting teenage girl' I'm afraid that you're only right on two counts there," Remus reminded her.

"No apology necessary," Ginny chimed.

"Oh that's right! Everybody gang up on Ellie! What happened to sisterhood? What happened to family ties? No, no that's fine; if nobody wants to listen to me then I'll be sure to keep quiet from now on!" She stormed up the stairs spectacularly. Remus shook his head gently.

"Ever the drama queen, so Potterish," he said with a wry smile.

"Hey! I'm still a Potter you know!" Harry protested on his family's behalf.

"You don't need to tell me that, Harry," Remus chuckled. "Are you ready to go or would you like a little longer?"

"I'm good to go; can I take these books with me?" He motioned to the pile of books that he had abandoned on a nearby table in the heat of his passion.

"Of course you can." The former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher led the way up the stairs. "Ready to go, Ellie?" he asked tentatively. She was staring out of the kitchen window in to the wild back garden; she faced them and surveyed her surroundings for a second before she nodded. The four left the house, crossed back over the road and took one last look back at the house before they took the portkey back to Grimmauld Place.

* * *

When they landed back in the kitchen Remus made excuses to leave very quickly, he was seen disappearing in to his room not long after. Ellie quietly whispered to Tonks that it might be a good idea to go after him, which she dutifully did. Molly took one look at the returning party and immediately put the kettle on; she was so typically British and believed that a cup of steaming tea could cure any ill. The tea was received well by all, and an uneasy silence filled the room until Remus and Tonks returned and even then there were only small spatters of conversation. 

After lunch Harry and Ginny wandered out in to the garden and planted themselves on the roots of a large Willow tree that was a good distance from the house. "What happened earlier?" Harry asked Ginny.

"What do you mean?" she raised her head off his shoulder slightly.

"Back at the house you looked really upset. Ellie may not have spotted that fake smile but I did."

"As a matter of fact she did, she asked me about it over lunch," Ginny said quietly.

"Well…" he probed.

"I suppose when I found that uniform it just hit me all of a sudden…they were only a little bit older than us, they were really only just married and had their first child…they were just starting out in life…and it was all taken away. They lost everyone and then they had their lives stolen, as well… it's just so tragic. I know that they were your parents and we've talked about them a lot but I suppose that…to me they were just names and pictures but seeing all that today…they were people…good people and they were taken for no reason really…" in the midst of her speech Ginny had begun to cry softly.

"I know…Ellie told me something… 'As a well spent day brings happy sleep so life well used brings happy death' it was something Leonardo Da Vinci said, it's true. They did a lot of good things in their life, I mean Dad was an Auror and Mum was such a nice person…" Harry listed off his parents achievements.

"And a healer to boot," Ginny added.

"Exactly so they both helped a lot of people and they took care of Ellie, so they made their lives count for something." Again he fought his tears bravely.

"They looked so happy in their pictures; do you think…that maybe one day we could be that happy?"

"We will be, one day when Voldemort is gone."

"Do you think you can beat him, Harry?"

"I think I _we_ /I can beat him, we've got too much to live for," he said firmly.

"Hear, hear," this came from Ron who had approached with Neville, unnoticed. They sat together quietly contemplating the things that lay ahead.

Later that night as they were getting settled in bed Neville's voice rang through the darkness, "Harry, can I ask you something?"

"What, Neville?" Harry mumbled, he was already half asleep.

"Can I help?" It was the strangeness of this question that snapped Harry back to full consciousness.

"Help what?" he looked over in the direction of Neville's bed despite the fact that he couldn't see anything through the darkness.

"Help you fight Voldemort, it's a good fight and I want in. I want to do what I can," he said firmly.

"Neville, you already are in, we all are."

"Oh, good. Night, Harry," satisfaction was evident in the other boy's voice.

"Good night, Neville," Harry slurred as he was over come by a yawn and fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Almost a week had passed since their visit to Potter House; it was over dinner on the Thursday night that Ellie approached him about another outing. "Harry?" she asked quietly as she passed him the Shepard's pie. 

"Um-mm," he garbled incomprehensibly with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. Apparently Ellie understood that he was listening.

"Would you like to visit Potter Hall?" she said in a hurry.

"Potter Hall?"

"Yeah it's where Grandma and Grandpa Potter used to live and my mum and dad of course," she informed him as she speared some carrots with her fork.

"I'm not sure that Remus could cope," he whispered, not wanting to attract the attention of the man who was sat only a few seats away.

"He'll be alright, I think we should probably take Tonks along, she seems to have a good effect on him," Elizabeth smirked.

"You've got that right," Harry grinned back at her mischievously

"That's settled then, we'll go on Saturday morning," she said agreeably.

"Sounds good, can Ginny come again?"

"If it makes you feel better then by all means."

"Thanks, I can't wait," he smiled at her as he shoved a forkful of his recently acquired Shepard's pie in his mouth.

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that the next chapter is…The Second Return. **

**From now on i'll be posting quicker than the one chapter a week i had originally planned, i've got so far ahead that i'm almost finished with it. ****I'd like to give a very big thank you to Sorn who is helping to edit my chapters and is the reason that i got do far ahead and that you can now enjoy my fic sooner. Every body clap for Sorn, if you wanted to be extra nice you could go and review his fic Harry Potter and The Battle for Ginny.**


	4. The Second Return

**The Second Return:** Ellie takes Harry to Potter Manor, preparations for Harry's birthday begin and the twins learn something about Remus.

**A/N: I got most of my ideas for Potter Manor from Ballindalloch Castle, the homepage for it can be found at It's a beautiful castle which I have had the pleasure of visiting on two occasions and it was very inspirational when it came to writing some aspects of this chapter. So if you want a rough idea of the picture I have in my head for this house then you could visitit's site and hit the 'Tour Castle' button. I should also probably note that the book – 'I Can Write My ABC's' by Kama Einhorn is an actual children's book, one that my little cousin Lewis showed me with distinct pride! Don't forget to read and review! **

Like the week before Ellie woke him fairly early in the morning as she did Ginny. This time, however, Charlie and Tonks would also be accompanying them for this trip and their portkey was a rather worn looking beach bag. After the whirlwind of travelling, Harry found himself standing alongside a tall white wall with large wrought iron gates just to his left. The long metal spars were twisted elaborately and pointed towards the words that adorned the top of the gates, 'Potter Hall'.

"Are we safe out here?" Charlie glanced around at the vast open landscape as he took a protective step towards Elizabeth.

"Yes, it's hidden by the Fidelius Charm," cousin answered knowledgeably

"But then how did Voldemort know where it was…oh," Tonks muttered when Remus' features hardened slightly.

"Dirty, lousy rat," Harry muttered under his breath.

"They should have chosen me or Sirius, if they had then we wouldn't be in this sorry situation," Remus said sadly.

"You listen here Remus John Lupin," Tonks said in her best Mrs. Weasley tone. "Ifs, buts and maybes will only get you one place – a deep, dark hole of depression! If they had made you their secret keeper then you would probably be dead, you and I would never have fallen in love and this entire family wouldn't be as close as it is. Now I don't know about you but I love our family, so stop moping and buck up!" she scolded him fiercely. Tonks usually had such a friendly and approachable nature that she had surprised them all with her outburst.

"I couldn't agree more. I don't know where we'd be without you, Moony," Ellie said warmly.

"She's right," Harry agreed.

"That goes for me and short-fry too!" Charlie said pointing at Ginny.

"Hey!" Ellie and Ginny protested simultaneously.

"You're lucky if I'm an inch taller than Ginny," Ellie complained.

"It's not my fault you're short, that's down to genes," Charlie mocked.

"If you're not careful, Charlie Weasley, you'll have to find yourself another wife!"

"Don't joke about things like that Ellie!" he said seriously, it was only two months ago that he had come close to having to find himself another wife. She ignored this comment and instead strolled towards the gates, which opened for her automatically. She reached her arm out towards Harry and signalled him forward.

"Welcome, Harry, to Potter Hall," she said brightly.

In front of him stood what looked like a miniature Hogwarts. It was definitely a castle, despite the fact that it was on rather the small side for that type of building. It came complete with towers and turrets and Harry suspected that it might also have wings. Its brickwork was slightly darker than that of the castle he called school, it was a rather murky shade of grey. One side of the building had a stained window that must have easily been twice the height and breadth of Hagrid. As they walked up the sweeping driveway he noticed the front doors which were undoubtedly at least twenty feet tall and half that wide, they were made of solid oak strips bound together by broad metal straps.

"Patefacio Sesame!" Ellie breathed. "There's a lot to be said for Muggle tales, you know," she said cheerfully.

"Open sesame," Remus explained to him when he spotted Harry's bemused expression.

The mammoth front doors swung open, admitting them to the vast entrance hall, it had a tall vaulted ceiling supported by several pairs of wooden pillars with intricate carvings and a gleaming marble floor. There were three hallways leading off in different directions, one to the left, one to the right and another straight down the centre of the house. At the far end of the entrance hall was a wide, sweeping staircase much like the one at Hogwarts, it was lined with sizeable portraits of moving subjects. There was a large stone archway on either side of the hall, one led to what looked like the drawing room and the other to the sitting room. Right next to each archway was an enormous beautifully gilded fireplace.

"This place has been home to the Potter family for over seven hundred years. These are only the formal rooms, the last time these were used was to welcome people after your christening, they came in here until the Main Hall was ready." She waved her arm towards the hallway to the left. "The ordinary sitting room is upstairs," she smiled at him and strode confidently towards the passage directly in front of her, the group followed behind her. They passed half a dozen doors on their journey down the corridor and eventually emerged in a room that was approximately half the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Harry looked up in to the excruciatingly high rafters, almost giving himself neck ache. The stained window that he had seen from outside was part of a wall in this room, from the close proximity Harry was able to read the name below; Merlin. The figure of a longhaired, wizard in magnificent silver robes was depicted with his wand out and sparks flying from it, he was surrounded by an aura of power.

"Why do we have a stained window with Merlin on it?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Our ancestry can be traced back through countless generations to Merlin himself, and we're also related Godric Gryffindor," Ellie was stood next to him, staring up and the sparkling window.

"Seriously?" he remembered seeing Dumbledore after his escapades down in the Chamber of Secrets, it was then that the headmaster had commented that only a 'true Gryffindor' could have pulled Godric's sword out of the sorting hat.

"Yep, he's our great, great, great, great… oh I'm not sure how many greats there are but cutting to the chase he's our something grandfather in the Potter line. There are actually other connections to the Dumbledore family somewhere along the lines; you can look it up on the family tree. We've got a distant cousin somewhere who married in to the Weasley family as well," she laughed at Harry's astonished expression. "You've been told before that all the pure-blood families are interconnected haven't you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't realise just how literally it was meant," he said with surprise.

"Very literally, if you go back several generations we're related to the Blacks and the Malfoys as well…"

"But how?" Harry found it very hard to cope with the idea that he was in anyway linked with Draco Malfoy.

"Before you go panicking about our connections to dark wizards let me point out that every family has a black sheep or two somewhere and we are no different," she looked at him reproachfully.

"They used to hold the most terrific parties in here, you know," Remus interjected. "Every New Year, Halloween, birthday and anniversary, this family never could resist the opportunity to have a good party; if only these walls could talk…" he stared wistfully at the walls as though silently reading the stories that lay etched in to the stained pine panelling. "They invited everyone they knew; your grandparents certainly knew how to spread cheer."

"They certainly did. I came to your second birthday party," Tonks added to Ellie.

"I never knew that!" the auburn haired girl exclaimed.

"She caused a ruckus by blending in to the wallpaper in your bedroom, it took everyone three hours to find her, it could have taken longer if she hadn't laughed at Sirius, he muttered some choice expletives under his breath when he was forced to join the hunt for her," Charlie recalled.

"Actually I think you'll find I was laughing at I you / laughing at Sirius's mutterings, you were making a funny snorting noise," Tonks teased.

"What can I say? I was eight and I thought that it was amusing," Charlie shrugged his broad shoulders.

"What was he muttering?" Ginny asked.

"Don't you dare tell her!" Remus interrupted. "They were undoubtedly words that no young lady should be privy to," he said with a nostalgic smile.

"Yes but this young lady has five older brothers so there aren't many swear words she hasn't heard," Ginny protested.

"I don't know about that Gin, he used some ones that even I'd never heard and haven't since!" Charlie smirked.

"Do you want to go upstairs? All the more interesting stuff is up there," Ellie made a deliberate attempt to change the subject. Harry knew that his godfather was still an especially sore subject for his cousin, like him she felt the need to blame herself for Sirius's untimely death. She believed that if she had been where she should have then it would never have happened. She didn't really wait for an answer before she slid a section of panelling to one side, revealing a secret staircase; Harry had a sneaking suspicion that this house had been built with Hogwarts in mind.

When they surfaced at the top of the stairs they were on a landing of the main staircase that started in the entrance hall. They found themselves stood in the middle of a large open area that was almost identical to the one below, the difference being that on this floor there were four large archways, three of them had been filled with doors and a fourth had luxurious red velvet curtains hanging in it. There were dozens of portraits hanging on the walls including a short red-haired witch in glittering emerald green robes, her long hair was plaited and she wore a large bright green jewel that he recognized but could not place. When she saw them she shuffled forward elegantly in her frame and gazed at them intently. "How dare you!" she suddenly shouted right in Harry's ear.

"Excuse me? What did I do?" Harry objected.

"Who do you think you are, storming in here and pretending to be James Potter? What right have you got? And you over there," she now wagged her finger accusingly at Ellie. "You almost had me fooled you know, for a second I was sure you were Jane but then I saw that nose! What do you think you're doing? You've not fooled me! EVERYONE WAKE UP, WE'VE GOT INTRUDERS, WAKE UP!" she called to the paintings around her. The people began to stir and rubbed their eyes sleepily but when they saw the group on the landing they suddenly looked very alert.

"Explain yourselves at once!" cried a man who was the spitting image of Harry with the exception that his dark, unruly hair was a good bit longer and his eyes were hazel instead of green.

"INTRUDERS! TRESSPASSERS! PROWLERS! THEIVES!" the red haired woman continued to shout as loud as she could. Another flame haired woman in the frame next to her was peering at them absorbedly.

"MAYBELLE POTTER WOULD YOU PLEASE BE QUIET!" Ellie roared. The woman screaming faltered for a second and the woman in the portrait next to her said quietly.

"How does she know your name May?"

"Come over here you," the man called to Ellie. She pushed past everyone else and stood in front of his picture with her arms folded; she was drumming her fingers along her bicep in a very annoyed fashion. He surveyed her closely, tipping his head from side to side then taking a step forward and then a couple of steps back. "Good Lord!" he muttered after a good long while.

"What is it Alistair?" the formerly loud-mouthed woman asked quietly.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said to the pictures around him. "Our young Miss has returned to the Hall," he declared. "Elizabeth Potter has come home!"

"Elizabeth? Never. It can't be. You've made a mistake Ally," Maybelle rebutted.

"I have not made a mistake Maybelle, I'd know that girl anywhere and I'm telling you that's her!" he bellowed. Maybelle, however, refused to believe him and began questioning Ellie.

"What's your name?" she asked suspiciously.

"Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter," Ellie answered.

"When were you born?"

"January 15th 1978."

"Where?"

"Upstairs in A wing, second room on the left."

"Who were you parents?"

"Andrew and Jane Potter," Ellie answered exasperatedly.

"Grandparents?"

"Harold and Eliza Potter."

"Who are we?" she pointed to herself and the raven haired man named Alistair.

"Maybelle Kelleigh and Alistair Leofric Potter, our great grandparents," Ellie said in irritation.

"Our?" Maybelle inquired dubiously.

"This is Harry, you remember him don't you? James and Lily's son?" Ellie now tugged Harry closer to the portraits.

"He's strapping lad, isn't he?" Alistair's chest puffed out.

"Meet the family, Harry," she indicated the wall full of pictures.

Ellie led them away from the portrait collection and in to the library. The walls were lined, from floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall, with shelves of books, a large and impressive chandelier hung from the ceiling. Ellie drew her wand from her robes and pointed it up at it and said '_Lumos Candela'_ , immediately the hundred or so candles on it lit up. The extra light wasn't really necessary as there were two cathedral windows on one wall. In between them was a large fire and around it there were several comfortable looking chairs, in fact the whole room was littered with chairs and couches that looked very inviting. The was a massive drum table in the middle of the room with several books lying on it, _The Darkest Wizards by Tiberius Ogden_ , the summary on the back cover read, '_Biographies of the world's Darkest Wizards, telling of their rise to power and their violent ways._' In stark contrast to the serious nature of this book the one lying right next to it was '_I Can Write My ABC's! by Kama Einhorn_.

Harry looked back up at the bookcases around him; there must be thousands of books in here, there must be a thousand shelves never mind a thousand books. "How are you supposed to get those ones?" he asked Remus, his guardian looked up at the shelf Harry was pointing to, it was one of the upper most shelves and was fifteen feet from the floor.

"I thought you were a wizard, Harry?" Ginny interrupted.

"I am!" he declared.

"Well then start thinking like one," Charlie mocked.

"What do you mean?" Harry puzzled.

"Can you or can you not make things levitate?" Remus asked him, there was a look in his eye that betrayed his knowledge of Harry's escapades with a Mountain Troll in his first year.

"I can, is that what you have to do, float the books down to you?"

"Well you could, but I daresay it would be a great deal easier to float yourself up to them," Remus drew his wand, waved it at himself and called 'Wingardium Leviosa'. He immediately began to float, under the direction of his own wand Remus drifted up to the top shelf, plucked a book from the selection and descended back to the floor. "As I said a great deal easier."

After a good long while examining the contents of the library and Ginny's final proclamation that Hermione would 'Have a fit' if she could see it, they left the library and crossed over the landing to one of the doors. They were now in the sitting room. Harry wasn't sure if he had ever seen a more comfortable looking room in his entire life, even at the Burrow. The walls were burgundy and the room was full of other warm purples, reds and blues. Harry was of the opinion that the cushions must have been breeding unsupervised during the last sixteen years, it was not normal for one room to hold that many pillows. There were sideboards, tables and a fire surround all made of dark Walnut wood, and it reminded him largely of the Gryffindor common room. The family portrait that adorned the fireplace wall at Potter House hung in exactly the same place in this room; other family pictures were dotted here and there. Seeing the smiling faces of his family, for once, didn't fill him with sorrow, instead it filled him with warmth and he did not feel the need to cry.

When Ellie slipped from the sitting room back out in to the hall everyone followed her silently, she led them through the door opposite and found themselves in the large kitchen, it was similar to the kitchen in number twelve with the exception that instead of magical windows this had real ones. The view was magnificent. The benefit of being on the first floor was that you could see just about everything there was to see, including the extensive grounds which looked beautiful under the bright summer sun, it suddenly struck Harry that he had seen this garden before. It was in the picture of Ellie chasing Harry and Neville around while their parents looked on. He smiled as he imagined his and Ellie's children running around in the same manner one day.

They moved swiftly on to the next room which was the drawing room and then up the stairs, this hall on this landing was much like the two below, only this one had three archways, each with a set of sapphire curtains hanging in it. Above each archway there was a letter carved in to the stone. Instead of rooms these arches lead to three corridors with a good number of doors leading off them. "This side used to be my mum and dad's," she pointed down the corridor to her left. "That was your mum and dad's," she pointed to the one dead ahead. "And that was Gran and Grandpa's," she pointed to the final corridor on her right.

"So I was right it does have wings," Harry mumbled quietly.

"Certainly does, A wing, H wing and J wing." Ellie said loudly to him.

"A, J and H?"

"Andrew, James and Harold, Gran once said that a man had to have a wing to give him space to breathe," Ellie grinned.

"The only reason she said that was because of how boisterous the three of them became when they got together, they once nearly destroyed the house," Remus reminisced.

They all split up to explore the house with Harry and Ginny automatically heading for J Wing. They had wandered aimlessly from room to room; there was a study, a small sitting room, a dining room, a very large toy room. There were several bedrooms, the most magnificent of which was located at the top of a turret that was at the end of the corridor. Ginny gasped in awe when she pushed open the door. A substantial sized four-post bed was lined up against the same wall that the door was on; Ginny ran her hands along the soft beige sheets and made a soft noise of contentment. Harry had never seen such a large bed; it was easily seven feet square. The curtains that draped down the posts were made of the same pale suede that adorned the bed covers; the bed itself looked very soft and inviting. Harry chanced a glance at Ginny, she was still mindlessly caressing the sheets, and she seemed to be staring off in to space. He wondered if she was perhaps thinking the same thing that he was but he shook the thoughts from his mind and cursed his raging hormones. A long line of wardrobes were lined up against the opposite wall, they were nestled nicely between two large windows with a spectacular view of a lake out on the grounds. On another side of the room there was a fireplace with large sheepskin rug covering the stone floor in front of it and an armchair on either side. The final section of wall space was occupied by a large dressing table that was complete with a large mirror that said, "You're ever so pretty, dear," to Ginny as she walked past and tutted something about Harry's hair.

Next to it there was a doorway leading to a spiral staircase much like the one that lead to the dormitories at Hogwarts. They descended it and found themselves in a bathroom that was only marginally smaller than the bedroom above it. In the middle of the room was a roll top bath that was roughly the size of a small swimming pool, there were half a dozen neatly labelled taps that spouted different things much like the bath in the prefect's bathroom at school. There were his and hers sinks, a toilet discreetly hidden behind a sort of swinging door and a shower that was separated from the rest of the bathroom by a frosted glass door. "It's just so beautiful," Ginny said in quiet admiration.

"I wonder if all the wings are as nice?" he replied.

"I bet they are, it looks like your family had good taste," Ginny smiled as she ran a finger around the rim of the bath.

"No, it looks like they all married women with good taste," Harry corrected her. "Seems such a pity to break with tradition," he said mockingly.

"Is that so?" Ginny's eyes flashed. She pushed him backwards so that he fell in to the bath with a thud and immediately began to turn on the taps. Before he really had any opportunity to clamber out the bath was half full of water that had fragrant multi coloured bubbles floating off it.

"I can't believe you did that!" Harry exclaimed when he finally managed to scramble to his feet.

"Well let that teach you a lesson!" she answered back smugly.

"Teach me a lesson! How about this for a lesson?" He reached out and wrenched her arm sharply. She plummeted in to the bath beside him, coating the surrounding floor in a wave of water. When she lifted her head out of the water she made a noise like an angry cat and pulled him back down under the bubbles. Before long their fighting had developed in to passionate kissing and they had lost track of time completely. "We should probably get out of here and go back to the rest of the house," Harry said breathlessly.

"I think you're right," Ginny replied in an identical tone. They slipped and slid their way to an edge of the bath and were able to get out of it without further injuring themselves. After they had cast a Drying Spell over themselves and the soaking floor they headed back up the stairs and continued their exploration of the house.

Although J wing had been devoid of personal effects A and H wing were still full of all the character of their former inhabitants. Grandpa Potter had collected the newspaper cuttings of the dark wizard's that he had caught and made a sort of shrine in his study. Granny Potter, it transpired had been a Herbologist, she had been doing a lot of research in to the properties of certain magical plants, Harry got the distinct impression that she and Neville would have got on very well. Uncle Andrew had a shrine similar to that of his father, Harry was pleased to see that in most of the articles it was highlighted that the 'Potter Brothers claimed the capture together'. Unlike his Grandfather's collection, Harry actually recognized some of the names, there were several well-known Death Eaters such as Avery, Dolohov, Mulciber and Rookwood on their list. His Aunt Jane had been also been part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but she had been a member of the Wizengamot and assisted with their administration, they had found several binders with case notes in them, she had played an important role in the trials of Death Eaters.

It was quite late on in the afternoon when everyone was finally ready to leave. They all met up on the landing, Harry noticed that Ellie and Charlie were looking rather guilty and Remus wore an expression that he couldn't quite distinguish. "Is everything all right?" he asked them.

"Fine," Ellie replied in a strangled tone.

"She's looking rather embarrassed because I caught her and Charlie making rather good use of the bed in her **mother and father's** **bedroom,"** Remus emphasized these words to Ellie and Charlie but couldn't help throwing Harry a devious smile and a quick waggle of his eyebrows.

"Okay, Moony, we get the point!" Ellie then glanced up at Harry with a very strange look indeed. "Harry, have you got blueberry bubbles in your hair?" she asked as she leaned forward and sniffed the side of his head. Ginny exploded with laughter.

"I…um…quite possibly…" Harry glared at his shoes as though they had launched some kind of uncalled for attack on him.

"If you ask me, Remus, it's that pair you should be worried about. At least Ellie and Charlie are good at hiding the evidence of their activities. How would you have explained that one to Molly?" Tonks snorted in to the back of Remus's shoulder.

"What have you two been up to?" Remus asked stringently.

"Looks to me like they've been having a wash in Uncle James and Aunt Lily's bath," Ellie said as she sniffed at Harry again. "Yep, there's the toffee smell," she announced victoriously.

"Toffee smell?" Harry began sniffing his clothes for the tang but couldn't find it.

"Aunt Lily had a softness for toffees and so Uncle James bewitched one of the taps to provide bubble bath that had the aroma of fresh toffee, on top of that he put another spell on it which means that men can't sense it. You have a sniff, Ginny," Ellie grabbed a handful of the t-shirt that Harry was wearing and thrust it in the direction of Ginny's nose. When Ginny inhaled and then nodded, she pulled Harry in Tonks's direction.

"Ah, that's so nice," she sighed.

"Harry, sniff Ginny and tell me what she smells like," Ellie said fervently. Harry did as instructed and paused for a moment to contemplate the scent that had just wafted up his nostrils.

"She smells like freshly polished wood and something flowery." At this pronouncement Ellie and Remus shared a wide smile.

"Broomstick," they chorused in unison. Remus immediately leant forward and gave Ginny a quick sniff. He nodded and said "Lilies," to Ellie.

"Aunt Lily did the exact same thing with another tap," Ellie beamed.

"What I want to know is exactly what the two of you were doing in a bath?" Charlie demanded as he swelled with protective indignation.

"Ginny started it; she pushed me in to the bath and turned all the taps on!" Harry instantly declared. Charlie then raged at her instead.

"You did WHAT?" Harry was amazed by the way he sounded almost exactly like his mother.

"He said I had no taste! He deserved it! Besides he pulled me in after him!" Ginny was not going to take the fall for this one on her own.

"EXCUSE ME!" Charlie nearly shouted himself hoarse.

"It was payback!" Harry yelled defensively and took a side step behind Ellie. Just as Charlie was about to start another rant Remus held his hand up to stop him.

"You're not really the person to be lecturing on taking liberties today, are you?" Remus said almost playfully. At the reminder of his own guilt Charlie deflated. "What are the four of you like, can't even leave you alone for a few hours," Remus admonished as he lead the way back down to the entrance hall.

Harry left Potter Hall that afternoon with and indescribable feeling of pride and love in his chest. This was his family; he was a part of all this history. It felt like after so many years wandering in the wilderness he had finally found his home, the place where he belonged. With the Weasleys he had always had this feeling of belonging but not quite, particularly when the snake attacked Mr. Weasley, he had felt as though he was intruding on a private family moment. But now he did belong, he couldn't intrude on private family moments because this was his family, and this was his home.

* * *

Dinner that evening was an interesting affair as Harry tried to explain Potter Hall to his rapt audience; otherwise known as Ron and Neville. Remus was sorry to interrupt him; it had been a long time since he had seen Harry talk about anything so animatedly. "I was wondering if you could give me a clue as to what you'd like for your birthday, Harry?"

"My birthday?" Harry snapped out of his daze.

"Yes, you remember, the day when we celebrate the anniversary of your arrival in the world," Remus said with a chuckle.

"Sorry, I just hadn't thought about it much," he shrugged.

"Well start thinking about it, what would you like?" Remus finished his bottle of Butterbeer and placed it in the nearby bin.

"I dunno, Moony, get me anything."

"Anything? Well that's very helpful thanks," Remus shook his head cheerfully.

"Did I hear you right there?" George's ears had pricked up; he looked like an alert canine.

"Did you hear who right?" Remus asked.

"Did Harry just call you Moony?" Fred joined the inquisition.

"Yes, why?" Remus was surveying the twins through narrowed eyes.

"As in Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, the authors of…" George quickly glanced at his mother and leaned in closer to whisper, " The Marauder's Map."

"One in the same," chimed Harry.

"You knew?" Fred turned on Harry accusingly.

"Well…yeah," he replied, a little intimidated by their reaction.

"And you didn't think to mention it to us?" George asked furiously.

"I didn't think…" Harry had entirely forgotten to let the twins in on the secret.

"Well, that's obvious!" Fred said heatedly. "So you'll have known who Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were?" he asked concentrating on Remus once again.

"I certainly did," the werewolf answered with a devilish glint in his eye. "You two knew Padfoot as well."

"Padfoot, Who?" the twins asked in unison.

"Sirius, and Prongs was James." He nodded in Harry's direction. "Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew," he said bitterly.

"You're our Hero!" they exclaimed, they reached across the table to shake his hand vigorously.

"Where did you get the names?" George continued to whisper, the proclamation of hero worship had not gone unnoticed by their mother.

"I was Moony because I'm a werewolf," Remus said very quickly, he could see that Molly was trying to listen in, but thankfully because of all the other noise in the kitchen that was rather a difficult task. "Sirius was Padfoot because his animagus form was a dog, James was Prongs because he turned in to a stag, and Peter was Wormtail because he could turn in to a rat."

"They were all animagi? Wow…" Fred breathed.

"There must be so much you can tell us," George quickly pulled Remus from the table by his elbow and led him out of the kitchen. Although the man protested that he had things to do the quick grin he gave Harry as he was pulled from the kitchen gave him the distinct impression that Remus would only be too happy to regale the Marauder's adventures to the twins. Eager to hear these stories for themselves, Harry, Ron and Neville followed them, all the way up the stairs to the twins' room.

"And just where do you think you three are going?" Fred asked sweetly.

"We want to hear what Remus has to say too," Ron said excitedly.

"No can do little bro," he replied.

"But, that's not fair! Harry gave you the money to start your stupid joke shop and now you're going to shut him out of a meeting with _his_ guardian who's going talk about things _his_godfather and _his_ father did!"

"You're quite right, Ron, in you come, Harry," Fred stood to one side to allow Harry to pass him.

"I'm not coming without Ron and Neville," Harry said adamantly. He could see Fred thinking this over before he made a final decision.

"Do you swear that you won't tell Mum about anything you're about to see or hear?" he said threateningly to Ron and Neville.

"We promise!" they said simultaneously.

"In you come then," he said letting the other three in to the room and shutting the door firmly behind them.

**A/N: The next chapter heading your way is… Coming Of Age **


	5. Coming Of Age

**Coming Of Age:** It's Harry's birthday and he is going to get some interesting presents again this year.

It was at the end of the next week that Remus and Tonks went to collect Hermione from her parents' house. Ron had tidied himself up for his girlfriend's return; he had combed his hair, put on a set of his smart robes and had a rather pungent aroma. She returned just before dinnertime, they all heard the many locks of the front door clicking and the sound of footsteps echoing in the hall. Hermione appeared in the kitchen with her bushy hair sleeked back in to a ponytail and looking very bronze. Naturally Ron was the first to welcome her home, ignoring the huge family crowd around them; he swept her up in to a kiss and didn't release her for several minutes. When he eventually did all eyes were on them causing Ron's ears to burn red and Hermione to grin madly. "It's good to see you too," she blushed.

"How was Italy?" Ginny asked as she greeted Hermione with a hug.

"It was wonderful!" she glowed.

"So you had a good time then? How are your parents?" Harry asked rising to meet her himself.

"We've had a good long chat and I think they understand my predicament a little bit better and yes, I had a fantastic time," she continued to beam.

"Did you visit Florence?" Ellie now took her turn.

"It was so picturesque, and the language is so beautiful. We went to as many places as possible and I learned a few more things in Italian," she said proudly.

"Such as…" Ellie quizzed.

"Il vero eroe Ÿ sempre il eroe da travisare , egli sogni di essendo un onesto codardo simile tutti altro," Hermione said slowly.

"The real hero is always the hero by mistake, he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. Umberto Eco if I'm not mistaken," Ellie replied after a seconds thought.

"It is!" Hermione was obviously ecstatic that she had got it right.

"You're accents not bad for someone who's only been there on holiday. If you practiced you could be fluent before long."

"Would you teach me?"

"If you like, but I think you need to relax a little bit first. Tell me more about where you went." Elizabeth patted the chair next to her and for the next few hours the girls were lost in conversation about places that neither Harry nor Ron could pronounce. During Dobby's extravagant dinner, Harry, Ginny, Neville and Ron filled Hermione in on what they'd been up to while she was away. She nearly let out a scream of delight when she found out about the visits to Godric's Hollow and Potter Hall.

"Oh Harry, that's wonderful!" she had called. "And so close to your birthday as well."

* * *

The ritual whispering once again came to life during the week before Harry's birthday, every time he stepped foot in the kitchen Mrs. Weasley started to frantically shush every one and would unintentionally scowl at him. The worst part was his friends whispering. Neville, whose birthday was the day before Harry's, was staying with them for the day itself and leaving with his grandmother later in the morning, Harry found himself and Neville left alone fairly often as the other three disappeared to quiet corners of the house to discuss their presents. It was beginning to annoy him when every time they walked in to a room people stopped talking dramatically and sat on edge until they left again. Ginny, Ron and Hermione often did their best to finish conversations quickly or encourage Harry and Neville to go and do things together in other parts of the house. Ellie was apparently the only person who was organized in the approach to the day; she spent as much of her time as possible with the young pair. She often pulled them out in to the garden for Quidditch practice, her influence on Neville continued and she convinced him that when school started back he should think about trying out for the empty chaser position. They were ushered up to bed straight after dinner the night before their birthday party along with the other three, as they traipsed up the stairs they heard Mrs. Weasley closing over the kitchen door and shouting orders at everyone else.

The next morning there was a lot of commotion in the downstairs hallway, the kitchen door was still locked and everyone was bundling in to the small staircase with some difficulty. After several minutes of very loud complaining and banging on the door Molly's head appeared in a very thin gap. "Whatever is the matter?" she asked irritably.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we've got nine hungry people on a tiny staircase! If the rumbling in Ron's stomach gets any worse it's likely to cause an earthquake!" George grumbled.

"Why don't you use your brains for once and go and wait in the sitting room?" she snapped and shut the door on them once again. They retreated back up the stairs as advised and waited. Twenty minutes later Bill's voice called up the stairwell.

"You lot can come down now!"

"Finally!" Fred yelled.

If you had asked Harry his honest opinion he would have told you that nothing could surpass his last birthday party, the decorations had been top notch and the presents had been better and more numerous than ever before. But even last year's party paled into insignificance when compared to this year's spectacular event. Fluorescent coloured balloons were arranged on the ceiling in bunches, complete with streamers and ribbons, an enormous multi-coloured banner was hanging on the fireplace wall read 'Happy 17th Birthday Harry and Neville!' The magical windows were filled with fireworks that spelled things like 'Hip Hip Hooray!' and 'Congratulations!' the birthday cake was in two parts and shaped in to the numbers one and seven with seventeen candles in each cake. There were two piles of presents on either side of the currently extinguished fire with two chairs sitting in the middle. "Happy Birthday!" everyone cheered. Harry and Neville stood speechless amongst the crowd, not knowing where to start. This year was more of a family affair than last, this time there was a distinct lack of order members, Professor's Dumbledore and McGonagall were the only people outside of the families that were in attendance. Neville's Grandmother, Great Uncle Algie and his wife Enid had come along for the day as well. They didn't have a chance to decide where they were going to start before they were hurried towards the chairs and a present to thrust in to their hands.

"Hurry up I'm getting hungry!" Ron called from the table where he was looking desperately at his empty plate.

"You're always bloody hungry!" Bill silenced him. Hermione and Ginny looked at him reproachfully, while Mrs. Weasley looked fit to explode.

"Well I suppose we best get on with it," Harry said more to the room at large than Neville, he saw Mrs. Weasley's features soften immediately. They began to rip open the wrapping zealously. The first presents were from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, they both received a new travelling cloak and this puzzled both of them until they gave them closer inspection. The cloaks had their family crests sewn in to the right hand side and the back.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Neville breathed.

"These are great!" Harry and Neville were now holding the cloaks up for each other's inspection. The next lot was from Ron; he had purchased a complete chess set, board and men, for Neville and had bought Harry a brand new set of lead Chessmen to replace the set from his grandfather. He was very proud of the fact he had brought them out of his own money (that which Sirius had kindly supplied). Typically Hermione's presents were books, she had bought them identical copies of _'Aurors: The Guide to Dark Wizard Catching'_ . Fred and George had given them a new product called _'Animal Amazement'_ .

"What do they do?" Neville inquired.

"Slip one of those little goodies in to a goblet of pumpkin juice and ta-da! Your favourite enemy will turn in to the animal that best suits their character. Guess where we got that idea from?"

"YOU WHAT? BOYS HOW COULD YOU…" Mrs. Weasley instantly began to berate her sons, she had adjusted to the idea that they were going to run a joke shop but apparently the Animal Amazement was one step too far.

"Mad-Eye," Harry said over Mrs. Weasley. She stopped shouting and looked at Harry peculiarly.

"What about Mad-Eye?" she demanded.

"It was him who gave Fred and George the idea, he turned Draco Malfoy in to a white ferret during our forth year," Harry disclosed.

"Ah yes, I remember it so well… Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret…" Ron said with his closed eyes and dreamy expression.

"Well I never…" Molly uttered in disbelief.

"It's true, Molly," Professor McGonagall confirmed. Harry ended their conversation by swiftly moving on to the next present, Neville caught on quickly and followed suit.

Charlie had purchased shiny new dragon hide wallets.

"They'll be no dragon's left if you keep up at this rate!" Harry exclaimed. This was the second year in a row that the Weasley brother had provided a dragon skinned present.

"I'll make sure that we don't run out," he said. Up until recently Charlie had been a dragon keeper in Romania but he hadn't been back there in almost a year and a half, his role with the Order had demanded that he spent more time at home. The next present came from the oldest Weasley brother, Bill. It was a particularly heavy package, they unwrapped them to find dark wooden boxes, with a golden initialling on the lid.

"They're security boxes, they've got charms on them to stop anyone but the owner opening them and they're guarded against things like floods, fires and stray curses," Bill enlightened them. Harry's box had a shiny H on the top and when he opened it up there was a large key sitting in it. "You can put just about anything you like in it, even stuff that looks too big for the box. It's got an Enlargement Charm on the inside so it grows to fit whatever you need it for."

"Thanks Bill!" Harry and Neville had called in harmony. They reached for the next package on the pile, which was Remus's present. He had bought them a bottle of Firewhiskey each.

"Remus!" Molly complained, "I would have expected it of Sirius but not of you!"

"Sorry Molly but once a Marauder, always a Marauder," he answered with a scheming glint in his eye. Ellie was standing behind him with a guilty smile on her face; Harry had a suspicion that she had colluded with him. Harry and Neville didn't say anything but they grinned from ear to ear. As Harry was pushing the wrapping to one side he noticed a letter lying in the torn paper, he looked up at Remus who gave him a little nod in return; he put the letter inside his new security box and decided to leave reading it until later. The next in the pile was from Dumbledore he gave Neville a picture of his parents in a beautiful solid silver frame. Harry had unwrapped his present to find a worn Ollivander's box, he removed the lid to find a wand rolling around the rectangular container; he looked up at his headmaster bewildered.

"It was your father's wand, I thought that you might like to have it," Dumbledore answered. Harry just nodded and set the box to one side carefully.

"Thank you, sir," he said softly.

"You are quite welcome," Dumbledore replied with a twinkle.

Neville and his Grandmother had provided Harry with a special new Wizard's camera so that he could take his own pictures. Harry had bought Neville a new set of gobstones after he had frequently complained that his set was worn out. The last present came from Ellie, she had bought Neville a book entitled _'The science of Herbology'_ . "Thanks, Elizabeth," he said gratefully, he had only stopped referring to her as Professor Potter the day before.

"Stop calling me Elizabeth, it makes me feel old," she complained. "Come on, Harry, time to open yours as well," she said eagerly. Naturally he did as requested; a small green velvet pouch and a wad of parchments fell on to his lap. He immediately went for the pouch, assuming that its contents would be more interesting, he was only half right. In the pouch was a small box, roughly three times of a matchbox, an intertwined J and L were engraved in to the lid. He opened the box and found his two gold bands snuggled in the cushion; they had a little red ribbon binding the two together. One ring had a diamond lily set in to it whilst the other had the same stone shaped as a snitch. Two silver plaques were set in to the lid; each had one of his parent's names printed on to it. They read, '_Lily – The only flower in my heart, love James x'_ and _'James – My mind, body and soul are yours, love Lily x'_ .

"Wow…Ellie…Thanks." For some unknown reason and completely on instinct he handed the box to Ginny who was sat quite near to him.

"Have a look at the rest of your present," she urged. He quickly obliged, he unfolded the parchment and allowed his eyes to wander over the very neat calligraphy.

'_I, Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter, the appointed guardian of the Potter Estate, do hereby bequeath to Harry James Potter all that is rightfully his under Inheritance Decree number 210 enforced by the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain. This inheritance includes the following:_

_The residence known as 'Potter Hall', situated in Speyside, Scotland along with all grounds, fixtures, fittings and belongings therein._

_The residence known as 'Potter House', situated in the village of Godric's Hollow, Wales along with all grounds, fixtures, fittings and belongings therein._

_Half the sum of gold held in vault 439 at Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley, London, England, which totals 53,385,120 galleons_

_The contents of security box 702 held at Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley, London, England._

He thus gains full ownership and control of that property aforementioned, it belongs solely to him and all decisions regarding its usage, care and dispensation should henceforth be addressed to him.

_I also grant him full control of his half of the Black Estate, under Emancipation Decree 25 enforced by the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain. This includes the following:_

_A half share in the property number 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England._

_One of the two remaining shares from the vault 711, Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley, London, England, formerly the Black Family Vault, totalling 10, 500,000 Galleons._

_This, is as bestowed to him by the last will and testament of Sirius Black, the sole heir of the Black Estate. He thus gains full ownership and control of this property and all decisions regarding its usage, care and dispensation should henceforth be addressed to him._

_This is a formal legal document and satisfies the Requirements of Writing Decree of 1701 enacted by the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain._

_Signed_

_Miss Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter,_

_The sole heir of Andrew Thomas Potter and Guardian of the Potter Estate._'

"Ellie…I can't accept this…it's not right… PotterHall should be yours…it was your home…it belongs to you…I really can't accept this…" he stuttered.

"Stop right there, Harry, you can accept it. My father _would_ have inherited Potter Hall, but he died before it could be passed on, therefore it passed on to your father and subsequently on to you. Potter House was your mum and dad's and that automatically passed on to you when they died. None of what's on that list belongs to me, it's rightfully yours, besides that's a legal document you're holding in your hand and we can't go back on it. You're of age now and it's all your responsibility," she smiled at him comfortingly.

"I don't know what to say…" Harry was at a complete loss for words.

"Say you'll accept it, that's all I want."

"But where will you and Charlie live?" He had no desire to make his cousin homeless.

"We're going to buy a place of our own, Weasley Manor has a certain ring to it doesn't it? Besides I still own half this place," she said brightly. "So will you accept it?"

"I will. Thank you, Ellie." He shifted through the crowd and hugged her tightly.

"You might be needing a big house someday soon." She gave Ginny a fleeting glance and then winked at Harry mischievously.

"I just might," Harry, replied equally playful.

"That's what I like to hear, I quite like the idea of being an Aunty and if I lay all my hopes on this lot of Weasley men I could be waiting a long time," she grinned.

With all the presents opened the family sat down to breakfast together. Once it was over Mrs. Longbottom rose from the table. "Are you ready to go Neville?"

"Yes, Gran," he replied dolefully.

"Well go and get your trunk then and you can pack all your presents away, I thought we might go and see you mother and father today," she said firmly. Neville fetched his trunk, taking twice as long to retrieve it than he had originally at Longbottom Cottage.

"Thank you for having him, Elizabeth, Molly." Mrs Longbottom nodded appreciatively at Mrs. Weasley and Elizabeth.

"Yeah, I've really enjoyed myself, it was great fun. Thank you," he smiled.

"You're welcome anytime, Neville," Ellie gave him a quick hug. "Perhaps you could come to stay again, sometime nearer school starting?" She looked to Mrs. Longbottom for consent.

"A very good idea, we'll be in touch," the matriarch of the Longbottom family replied. Great Uncle Algie pulled a teacup from his pocket and in a blink of an eye the Longbottoms had disappeared.

**A/N: I knew that law degree I was studying for would come in useful one of these days, that Requirements of Writing Decree I was talking about came from the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995. **

**I hope you all enjoyed that; the next chapter is …Fatherly Advice. Until then!**


	6. Fatherly Advice

**Fatherly Advice:** Harry reads the letter that Remus gave him as part of his birthday present and then he and Ron are subjected to a little chat with Remus and Arthur.

Later on in the day Harry gathered together his birthday presents to take them upstairs and put them away. It was as he was doing this that he came across the letter that Remus had given him. It was an ordinary parchment envelope that read.

ce_'To Harry James Potter_

_To be received on the 31st of July 1997'_

The flap side of the envelope had the Potter family crest printed in to the wax seal, he pulled at it gingerly not wanting to tear it and two sheets of parchment fell on to his desk, he unfolded them and began to read.

'_31st July 1981_

_Dear Harry,_

_Today is your first birthday. In case you don't recognise my handwriting by now (should circumstances so dictate) then let me tell you that this is you father here. Your first birthday party finished just an hour or so ago and your mother is upstairs bathing you and cradling you in her arms until you fall asleep and I am terribly jealous. I'm aware that things don't look great for us, with Voldemort on the up and that; fate appears to have earmarked us for a quick ending. If you haven't been told about a certain prophecy just yet then stop right now and badger whoever used to be in charge of you to explain it. Done it? Good. But who knows, perhaps in two or three years time I'll be throwing this in to the fire and starting again. Unfortunately there is a part of me that sincerely doubts it._

_Whatever happens or happened I want you to know that I love you and your mother more than life itself and if it weren't for Lily I probably wouldn't have made it this far. She made the impossible happen; she turned James Potter the obnoxious and arrogant spoiled brat into a caring family man. I remember almost everyday of the nine months she spent expecting you because they were amongst the best of my life (next to marrying her of course!). The day you were born I was rendered speechless; watching you lie there in your mother's arms was the single most amazing moment of my existence. No feeling compares. It astounded me that this tiny pink, wrinkly (and rather ugly,) bundle was created out of the love that Lily and I had for each other (especially since we were so good looking). I realized then that you were the strongest testament to love that there is in this world and I vowed to protect you at any and all costs._

_There is no joy in the world greater than being a husband and father, if you do nothing else with your life at least make sure you accomplish both of those because family is more important than anything else. I hope that wherever you are and what ever you've been doing today Elizabeth has been with you. I have little doubt that she will survive the coming onslaught, her grandfather will make sure of that, and she will make sure that you survive. She has suffered such a terrible time as of late but she is a Potter and we'll all take care of her, she is an adorable little girl who has this incredible ability to make people do what she wants, she has been able to twist your Uncle Andrew and Albus Dumbledore around her tiny little finger. I know without a shadow of a doubt she will look after you, she has that unmistakable Potter spirit like her mother, your mother and your grandmother. One day she will be a terrific lioness to some lucky man's cubs._

_The fighters are the best kind of women (trust me I'm the voice of experience) they are hard to get close to but the rewards are well worth it. I doubt that there was a girl at Hogwarts with whom I hadn't had some kind of romantic encounter with but your mother was unlike any of them. Like many women before her she brings out the best in the Potter blood. Your grandfather once told me that the love of a red haired woman is like no other, it is passionate but easy-going, stern but kind, tolerant but unbending and above all it is tender but fierce. Quite simply, they are made of stronger stuff!_

_I wish I could be there on the day my son becomes a man and starts to make his own way in to the world. I spend many hours pondering your future, wondering what kind of man you'll be but then I remember that with Elizabeth guiding you, you probably won't go far wrong. Your mother often contemplates the more important issues like what you're wife will be like, she's confident that there is not a woman alive who will do for her little boy, nothing short of perfection is acceptable so God help the poor girl who falls in love with Harry Potter._

_It is obvious to me now that this letter wasn't about you after all; it was about me getting some hopes, fears and dreams off my chest. I hope whoever has been taking care of you up until this point, whether that be Gran and Grandpa Potter, Sirius, Remus or Elizabeth, has kept you well and that you have thoroughly enjoyed your coming of age party (if you didn't have one someone is going to pay a hefty price when they get to the great beyond!). The last thing I want to say is that we love you Harry and there is nothing that could change that. Take care of yourself and Elizabeth and avoid joining the lot of us anytime soon, we'll be watching you from where we are and doing our best to keep you safe._

_All my love_

_Dad.'_

He sat for several minutes reading it over and over again and smiled. He'd moved past crying, he had no reason to cry, his parents had loved him, why should he cry? There was a gentle knock at the door and he beckoned his visitor in he was pleased to see that it was Ellie.

"So what did Uncle James have to say for himself?" she asked cheerily. "Encouraged you to make as much mayhem as possible did he?"

"Actually no," Harry replied, his eyes were still drifting over the letter in front of him.

"Well he must have been feeling sick that day; at least it makes my job easier. My dad suspected he might be letting you in on a few Marauder secrets and told me in my letter that I'd to do whatever was necessary to stop you from carrying them out, even if it meant hexing you," she chuckled.

"You got a letter too?"

"Yep, two and a half years ago now. It's kind of a Wizarding tradition, your parents write you a letter on one of your early birthdays, usually between one and five and give it to you when you come of age, then they write another one and save it till your thirty. I don't really know why they do it, sentimentality I suppose," she said thoughtfully.

"I think it's good, especially if your parents don't make it to your seventeenth. It lets you know what they were thinking and feeling when you were born…"

"I know what you mean, it's nice to know just how much they loved you," Ellie's eyes were beginning to glisten.

"It would have been great to have them here, but I suppose I don't really feel any worse off for not having them…" How could he when he'd just had such a wonderful day?

"I suppose all that really matters is that it was spent with people who love you like a son." You could practically see Ellie's mind forcing her tears away.

"Yeah that's it, I don't think Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could love me more if I was one of theirs," he smiled to himself, they were such a wonderful family with such an abundance of love.

"You don't think they could but I know they couldn't, as far as Molly is concerned you're one of hers and that's the end of it. You've seen her fight for what she thinks is best for you; believe me she'd lay down her life for you just as quickly as she would one of her own. We're not flesh and blood but we're as good as in Molly's book," Ellie said with a look of pride.

"You know something?" he asked her grinning.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

"You're going to make a pretty good Weasley wife," he said assuredly.

"Oh yes? What makes you think that?"

"I've seen you defending us at school, you're like a lioness protecting your cubs, you're going to be just like Molly," he predicted.

"Well I could do a lot worse than follow in her footsteps. Now the reason I actually came up here was to tell you that dinner is almost ready and the birthday boy's presence is required in the kitchen." She stooped down in to a Dobby-like bow and flounced from the room. Harry just laughed at his cousin's antics and followed her billowing robes down to the kitchen.

* * *

That night Harry and Ron performed their usual duty of walking Hermione and Ginny up to their bedrooms. "Good night, Ginny," Harry said as he stifled a yawn at Ginny's bedroom door.

"Is that it? Am I not going to get a kiss?" Ginny teased, she tugged him a little further in to the room. Harry was more than happy to oblige and found himself lost as the kiss deepened and became more passionate. What he didn't realise was that Ron and Hermione were on the other side of the wall doing the exact same thing, but he became aware of it when Mrs. Weasley's voice reverberated off the walls.

"AND JUST WHAT DO THE TWO OF YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" she bellowed. Harry and Ron jumped out in to the hallway as though they had been electrocuted.

"We were just saying goodnight…" Ron said to his feet.

"Well it looked more like mouth to mouth resuscitation to me!" she admonished. "So unless Hermione and Ginny are at death's door you had better explain yourselves!"

"It was just a kiss…" Harry said to his fumbling hands, he daren't look Mrs. Weasley in the eye.

"I see, you two will come with me right now," she barked as she set off back down the stairs. "Wait in there." She pointed them in to the drawing room and snapped the door shut behind them. The next time the door opened it was Remus and Mr. Weasley who entered, Remus was looking rather sheepish and Mr. Weasley was blushing lightly.

"So…boys…" he began and then appeared to find himself at a loss for words.

"Molly told us she found you in the girl's bedrooms," Remus continued.

"We were only about a foot inside and it was only to kiss them goodnight!" Ron objected.

"Unfortunately that's not how your mother sees it," Arthur said exasperatedly.

"Molly has asked us to have a chat with the both of you," there was the faintest tint of embarrassment in Remus's voice.

"You're both young men now and as you're getting older your relationships with the girls are going to change," Arthur said, he was trying to look anywhere but at Ron and Harry. Harry heard Ron give a soft groan beside him. "Look here, Ron, you may think this is horribly embarrassing but it's a necessary discussion!" he said sharply.

"What Arthur is trying to say is that it's our responsibility to make sure that you two know the…the facts of life as such and understand the consequences of your actions. We wouldn't like either of you to do something you shouldn't," Remus went on.

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant. There are certain codes of behaviour that should be observed during courtship…" he paused to think for a minute. "We understand that at your age there are certain other things at play in you mind and your…body…there are things to do with the opposite sex that are probably just occurring to you…" here his voice became particularly strained when he took a fleeting look at Harry. "Things that you're probably thinking about saying…or...or… doing…"

"But you should always err on the side of caution; we want you to think very carefully before you do anything. It's important to remember that some things are perhaps better reserved for marriage. We're well aware that the four of you aren't silly little children, Hermione and Ginny are smart, strong young women." Remus gave Arthur a comforting look. "But you should still consider things carefully. We don't want to see any improper behaviour, and as far as Molly is concerned the kissing you were up to earlier was a bit too zealous for her liking."

"So we just want you to calm it down a bit. Do either of you have any questions for us?" Mr. Weasley asked. He looked terrified at the prospect.

"What you mean? Like where do babies come from?" Ron snorted.

"Actually, Ron, that's exactly the kind of thing I meant," his father said reproachfully. Ron gulped loudly and looked at Harry.

"I learned all that at the Muggle School I went to," he said quickly to Remus and looked back at Ron.

"I've got four brothers I know all about it," he added hastily to Mr. Weasley.

"Ok, that's good. But if you have any questions about what you know or anything else like that we want you to know that you can come to us and ask us anything at anytime," Remus finished.

"We know that," Ron grumbled under his breath.

"In that case you can go on up to bed now, Molly should be finished with the girls," Mr. Weasley said wearily. The boys scuttled out of the room and up to bed as quickly as they could to save themselves from being pulled in for any more fatherly advice.

"Well that was rather awful," Remus breathed out deeply.

"I'm glad it's over," Arthur collapsed in to a nearby chair.

"Why's that?" Remus asked with interest.

"Ginny is Molly's responsibility, that was the deal. We decided when she was expecting our first that when it came to things like this I would deal with the boys and she would take care of the girls. Unfortunately I forgot that the Weasley genes favour men, I've endured that talk six times. Fortunately after Bill they all got a little easier, I think the advice filtered through and so each of them had more pieces of the puzzle than the one before. That was the last time I have to go through it, but you've got all this to come," he said smiling at the younger man.

"Thank you, you've given me yet another reason to not have children. Tonks is going to love you!" Remus chuckled.

**A/N: Another chapter bites the dust! I hope you enjoyed that, the next chapter on it's way to you is…Unwelcome Present. Until then take care of yourselves**


	7. Unwelcome Present

**Unwelcome Present: **Harry gets a birthday present from Voldemort that he would rather have done without.

After the embarrassment of the speeches from Mr Weasley and Remus, Harry was denied yet another night of peaceful sleep. As he slipped out of consciousness the new scene that snapped in to focus before him was not a pleasant one.

He was viewing a town from a broom high in the air above it; below him twenty Dementors were sweeping excitedly from side to side. Harry felt like he had just swallowed an ice cube as the feeling of cold he always got when the Dementors were near, swept through his body. He felt his mouth contort and the word 'go' seep from it, a thin, white and spidery hand pointed at the bustling street below. Within seconds the Dementors rushed down to the unsuspecting people who were piling out of closing pubs and clubs. Screams filled the air as the terrified people stared at the unfamiliar creatures that were now bearing down on them; people ran in all directions, tripping over each other in the process, all sense of chivalry was lost as men pushed women out of their paths.

Within minutes those who hadn't been able to run had been subjected to the Dementor's kiss, dozens of people now lay sprawled on the street their empty eyes wide in fear and the mouths moving soundlessly. Harry looked up and down the street and saw that some of those who had tried to run were frozen in their tracks, he looked to his right and left to see roughly two dozen Death Eaters flying around him. He let out a loud, howling cackle and pointed his broom down sharply; he landed softly and began striding up the street.

There were blinding flashes of light everywhere; the dark sky was lit with all the colours of the rainbow as the members of the crowd who were still living were subjected to a variety of curses. He watched as a Death Eater, who sounded suspiciously like Goyle, used the Imperious Curse on one woman, forcing her to run in to a wall over and over again. Harry flinched when the frenzied laughter escaped him. He saw several flashes of bright green light and trembling figures fell to the ground. A young girl of eighteen or nineteen was quivering in a corner; a Death Eater grabbed her and subjected her to a horrific and degrading attack before he finally killed her.

The crouching figure of Wormtail shadowed his every move and when he reached out his pale finger and pointed at a raven haired man, Peter immediately hurried forward a pulled the man roughly towards him. When the hand next appeared in his scope of vision it had a long wand in it, Lord Voldemort's wand. I Imperio/I he whispered dangerously. The man instantaneously dropped to his knees, bowed over and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes. In the next instant he had risen to his feet and was hurrying towards a red haired woman who was trying to hide behind a large metal bin, pulled her from her hiding place by her hair and began to strangle her. The poor girl struggled for a moment before her features turned a very unnatural colour and then she became lifeless. He removed the spell and the man was left hold the flaccid woman by her throat, he looked at her horrified before he dropped her body out of sheer terror. When he looked back at Voldemort the green flash collided with his chest and the man was dead as well. Only forty miles away Harry was woken by the searing pain in his scar.

* * *

He rolled over to the edge of his bed and vomited vigorously over the side. He was about to grab his pendant when his cousin came bursting in to his room regardless.

"Did you see what happened, Harry?" she asked urgently. She pointed her wand at the pool of sick on the floor and made it disappear.

"How did you know?" he barely managed to say before he surrendered to another wave of sickness. In a kind, motherly gesture Ellie rubbed her hand over his back in circles, gripped his upper arm to prevent him falling off the bed and whispered 'It's alright, Harry' soothingly in his ear.

"My scar felt like it was on fire," she answered when he finally stopped. "I heard you scream and assumed you had seen what I had felt."

"It was awful, really bad. There must be a hundred Muggles or more dead; you need to get the order straightaway."

"Get yourself dressed; I'll see you down in the kitchen in a minute." She raised her wand and something silvery shot out of the end, he couldn't remember where he had seen that happen before, and with a pop she disappeared from the room. Harry dressed as quickly as he could without making himself nauseous and almost walked straight in to Remus on the landing.

"Is everything alright, Harry? You look terrible," he said gripping him with concern.

"I had another vision, Ellie's getting everyone in," Harry had to lean back against the wall as he was starting to feel dizzy again.

"What happened?"

"I'd rather only have to relive it once, if you don't mind?"

"Of course, I understand, Harry. Come along." Remus helped him down the stairs and in to the kitchen where order members were all ready running out of the fire in their dressing gowns, some of the women still had curlers in their hair.

"What is Potter doing here?" Professor Snape demanded, stepping out of the fire.

"He had a vision, Severus, so you had better watch your tone!" Ellie said angrily from behind him, she had just Apparated there milliseconds before. "My grandfather will be here in just a second, he was sending word to Mad-Eye and Kingsley when I left. Are you feeling a little better now?" she asked Harry as she sat down next to him.

"A little," he lied. Molly came bulldozing in to the kitchen with her wand out.

"What's the matter? What's happened?" she asked in a panic.

"Harry had a vision, Molly. Have you got any calming draught?" Ellie said calmly.

"Give me just a second and I'll whip some up," she immediately began to busy herself at the stove.

"I shall assist," Professor Snape said, rather affronted that Ellie had not asked him for the draught.

"Remus, could you pop upstairs and get Harry's pensieve? I have a feeling it might be a better idea for him to put his dream in there instead of having to tell us all," Ellie now spoke to her godfather. With a pop he disappeared and reappeared a second later with Harry's stone pensieve in his hands. Ellie nodded at Harry and he extracted the thought from his temple and deposited it in the bowl where it began to swirl enchantingly.

Molly popped a cup full of steaming liquid in to his right hand and encouraged him to sip it slowly. As soon as Dumbledore arrived, Harry prodded the contents of pensieve and the figures from his dream rose out of it and the battle began. Gasps went around the room as it progressed with several of the women looking close to tears and the men looking thoroughly disgusted. Despite Mrs. Weasley's calming draught seeing it all again made him feel nauseous, Remus must have sensed this because he conjured a bowl seconds before Harry once again began to throw up spectacularly. He flushed with embarrassment at having shown such weakness in front of so many people, more importantly in front of Snape and Mad-Eye. Snape would just use it to ridicule him and Mad-Eye would be disappointed that he wasn't made of sterner stuff. "I'm sorry," he slurred, trying to rid his mouth of the taste by gulping large amounts from the cup in his hand.

"Don't worry sonny, the first time you have to see it is always the hardest and better out than in I say," Moody reassured him.

"Thanks," Harry replied hoarsely. He saw Ellie give Moody a grateful smile, she too looked close to being sick and Charlie had a death grip on her hand.

"Mundungus, it is quite possible that you know London better than any other person in this room. Could you perhaps suggest a location?" Dumbledore said after considering what he had seen.

"Look'd like Brixton to me." It was a sign of just how heinous the crimes were that even Dung looked revolted.

"Thank you, Kingsley, would you like to take a deputation there and assess the situation. You may have to contact the Oblivators," Dumbledore said calmly.

"I'll return as soon as I can with an update," Kingsley said in his deep composed voice.

"Please do. Alastor, Tonks, Minerva, and Mundungus would you please accompany Kingsley. The rest of you should return home and dress in the event that you are needed later," the headmaster advised. Everyone began to leave the kitchen, some queuing up for the fire, some apparating, some taking portkey's and others leaving via the front door. "You would probably be best going back to bed, Harry, I will have Elizabeth wake you when we get some news."

"I'll come with you; I've got a vial of potion for a dreamless sleep if you'd like it?" Ellie asked as she escorted him back to his room. On the landing she said I 'Accio!' /I as quietly as she could, trying to avoid waking the other sleeping members of the household. Harry changed back into his pyjamas while he was waiting.

"I'm not sure that I want to go back to sleep," he said shakily. "What if it happens again?"

"Don't worry, I'll be right here." She produced a comfortable chair right beside his bed. He swallowed the potion she gave him in one gulp and began to feel drowsy the second it touched his lips. He felt her tucking his blankets in around him and heard her assuring Mrs. Weasley that he was settled. As he began to drift towards sleep he heard the voice of another person in the room, he vaguely recognised it as Professor Dumbledore.

"How are you, Elizabeth?" he asked.

"I hate seeing him like this," she replied sadly.

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"I'll be fine, so will Harry. Did Severus know anything about what happened tonight?"

"He had heard rumours here and there but nothing confirmed, he seems to have fallen through the ranks of the Death Eaters in recent weeks."

"Why?"

"I fear it is because of you. I have reason to believe that Voldemort may be aware of the situation regarding your mother and this has lead to doubts over whether Severus's loyalty lies with you and your mother's blood or with Voldemort and his cause," Dumbledore said gravely. If Voldemort didn't trust Snape it made having a spy amongst the Death Eaters virtually pointless and potentially dangerous.

"And where does Severus's loyalty lie?" she asked sceptically.

"Both you and I know the answer to that question," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Just because I know the answer doesn't mean I have to like it," she said bitterly.

"Naturally," Dumbledore replied with a slight smile evident in his voice. But Harry didn't hear anymore because he was overcome with deep, steady and calming sleep.

* * *

When he woke a few hours later Ellie was dozing in the chair by his bed. The slight noise of him reaching for his glasses was enough to wake her. "How are you feeling?" she mumbled sleepily.

"A lot better, has there been any news?"

"Kingsley came back an hour or so after you came back to bed, the street was a disaster zone they found ten people still alive, three were insane, four were suffering from severe blood loss and the other three were frightened beyond belief, the Obliviators had a tough job making them forget it all. Dobby's making breakfast, I promised Molly that I'd make you go down and eat something." She got rid of her chair and left him alone to change.

The air in the kitchen was angst ridden. Bill, Charlie, and Remus were sitting at the table looking extremely tense. Several well thumbed copies of the Daily Prophet's morning edition lay discarded in a heap in the centre of the table, occasionally one of the men would shoot it an anxious glance before returning to staring at their mugs of tea. Harry picked up one of the copies as soon as he sat down, the front page bore an artist's impression of Dementors sweeping down in to a street and people running in terror.

_'249 Muggles Dead:_

_Carnage as You-Know-Who, Death Eaters and Dementors attack Muggle partygoers._

_There was mayhem, death and destruction last night as You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters unleashed twenty Dementors on a Muggle street. The tragedy unfolded on a street in the borough of Brixton, near London at two thirty this morning. The street is well known for its large number of Muggle pubs and dance clubs, hundreds of people spilled on to the street at closing time only to be descended upon by the terrifying creatures and a handful of Death Eaters._

_Some of the unfortunate victims were subjected to the Dementors kiss while others were dispatched of using the unforgivable 'Avada Kedavra'. Poor unsuspecting girls were subject to harrowing attacks that would be unsuitable to detail in a family paper, but it is sufficient to say that they were revolting and repulsive crimes carried out by the vilest of our kind._

_Of the estimated three hundred people that were in the street at the time approximately forty got away and Ministry sources estimate that only ten people were alive when Aurors reached the scene, four of whom were in critical conditions having lost huge amounts of blood through cuts made by a Severing Spell. It is rumoured that the others were driven mad by the experience and are now in a ward at St Mungo's Hospital, London. The Ministry is expected to make an official statement later on today._

_Turn to page 2 for eyewitness accounts from Mr Jeffrey Screwton and Ms Geraldine Turnbull who live on the street of the chaotic event.'_

He flicked through the pages of the paper, most of them were taken up by supposedly eyewitness accounts, more rumours of what happened, the details of who to contact at the Ministry if you either had information or thought a family member might have been present and yet more advice on how to protect yourself from attack. He threw it back on the pile with dismay, their advice was useless – if a Death Eater turned up on the doorstep of some poor wizard family and decided to kill them then there could be no defence. "Have the Ministry made their statement yet?"

"No, Minister Bones is still in talks with Dumbledore, Arthur and Kingsley about what to say, they should be out within the hour," Remus answered.

"There's not really much they can do or say is there?" Charlie asked.

"No, it'll be working out what to tell the Muggles that'll cause the most problems. It's not going to be easy to try and make and excuse for that many deaths," Bill replied.

"What are they going to say?" Harry asked.

"Arthur was talking about something to do with these drug things so many of the Muggle youngsters are doing…" Molly answered with some confusion.

"I think even the most oblivious Muggles aren't going to swallow that one," Bill said cynically.

"Unfortunately it's the best that we can do, none of the buildings were destroyed and it might have been a bit better if they had at least then it could have gone down as a gas explosion or something." Remus knew that this wasn't really a productive line of thought.

"We just have to be thankful that more people didn't die," Molly said but there was no conviction in her voice.

"No, we have to be thankful that they didn't decided on a target any closer to us," Remus said grimly.

**A/N: I decided to get the death and destruction going earlier in this fic, I think that was what my last one lacked. The next chapter is rather ominously titled…Graves.**

**I hope it's with you all soon**


	8. Graves

**Graves: **In the dire circumstances Charlie gets his way and Ellie takes Harry to a very special place.

The mood within the house during the coming week was an unpleasant one, everybody was on edge, the attack had been forty miles away but was forty miles too close. There had been several other attacks, a total of ten Muggles and three wizards had died since Harry's dream, all of the attacks had taken place in and around London. One morning Dumbledore was found strengthening the locks, magical and otherwise, on the front and back doors. He was once again starting to look his age, the twinkle in his eye was conspicuous in its absence and the age lines in his face were deeper than ever. Ellie had regressed somewhat, the cheerfulness that had shone from her since her near death experience was gone and had been replaced by the sullen and distracted woman he had seen following Percy's death.

After some intense discussions Ellie and Charlie had decided that the best thing to do was to bring forward their wedding plans, Ellie had pencilled it in for the last day of August by they decided to get married at the end of the first week instead. The second that the news was announced Ron turned to Harry with a face flushed in triumph. "Shall I take my ten galleons now or later?" he gleamed.

"But they've only brought it forward a couple of weeks!" Harry tried to protest.

"I know, but it's still earlier than Ellie had wanted so Charlie got his way didn't he?"

"I suppose," he grumped. To save himself enduring endless pestering from Ron he handed over the money on the spot.

* * *

Two days before the wedding Ellie picked the wrong moment to try and sneak her dress through the house. When she stepped out of the fire, with a large box in her arms and a handful of bags, everyone was just sitting down to lunch. "Is that it?" Mrs. Weasley cooed. 

"Um…it is…" Ellie stood rooted to the spot like a guilty child who'd been caught in the act.

"Can I see?" Charlie reached for the lid of the box.

"No you cannot!" Ellie shouted as she jumped out of his reach and almost landed back in the fire

"Don't you dare! It's bad luck!" Mrs. Weasley cried as she whacked Charlie's arm with the broom she was holding. "Pop upstairs and we'll see how you all look," Molly gestured to Tonks, Fleur, Ginny and Hermione who had been appointed bridesmaids for the event. The six women bolted from the kitchen, loud squealing noises were heard twenty minutes later and then Tonks called down the stairs.

"Remus, come up here, you have to see this!" Remus looked like a werewolf caught in the headlights of an oncoming train. He moved from the kitchen very slowly and was gulping heavily, obviously not relishing in the opportunity to be surround by six, hyperactive and squealing women. He returned quite quickly looking extremely pale, his eyes were wide and moist and his mouth was flapping open. "What did they do to you, Moony? Did they do lots of squealing?" Fred asked out of concern, none of them had ever seen him look the way he did.

"Remus, say something," George urged.

"They…she…" he whispered.

"Somebody slap him," Bill suggested.

"Oh, Charlie," he said after a long pause. "She looks beautiful…" he said breathlessly.

"I know she's beautiful!" Charlie exclaimed.

"No, no, no." Remus grasped the groom's forearm forcefully. "Trust me you have never seen her looking this exquisite…all of them…breathtaking…magnificent…"

"He needs a stiff drink," Ron advised. Fred reached in to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a bottle of Firewhiskey, some glasses and poured all of them a drink.

"To Charlie and Elizabeth," Bill toasted. They all raised their glasses and clunked them together, Ron coughed and Harry choked. "That'll put hairs on your chest," he laughed. He wasn't laughing when Mrs. Weasley came back.

"Why is that bottle empty?" she demanded.

"Because-hic-we-hic-drank-hic-it!" George gurgled, the rest of them laughed at him hysterically.

"THINK THAT'S FUNNY DO YOU?"

"Actually-hic-yes!" his twin hooted.

"WELL LET'S SEE HOW FUNNY IT IS NOW!" she picked up the broom she had abandoned in her excitement and smacked each of them forcefully over the head with the brush end. It was quite enough to settle them all down; although Fred and George continued to snigger through lunch they were hushed by a single deadly look from their mother.

* * *

The next morning they took a portkey from Grimmauld Place to Hogwarts, they all managed to land, without falling, safely in the Great Hall. Instead of the usual house tables and the hundreds that had been present at their Balls, there were now about thirty little tables arranged in a ring around the hall, creating a circular dance floor in the middle. These tables could seat ten people, with the exception of what was undoubtedly the head table, which Harry counted had twenty settings. They were draped in beautiful ivory silk and the large centrepieces consisted of red and white roses, little silver plaques at each place setting. There was a gap in the circle where a long stage had been set up for music, he presumed. On a wall down one side there was a large banner whose golden lettering allowed the name Potter to glitter in the morning sun. The banner adorning the wall opposite was exactly the same although it said Weasley rather than Potter. Hovering several feet above them were the hundreds of candles that were normally present during the welcome feast. They floated around in circles waiting expectantly to be lit, for the chance to cast light in to the world. 

"It looks wonderful, doesn't it?" Ellie gushed in Charlie's ear. The confirmation that she was really getting married seemed to have washed the gloomy disposition away and she was back to being the excitable young woman who, at Christmas, had rushed in to the kitchen and announced her engagement with utter glee. As her eyes flitted around the hall her smile widened and she looked fit to burst with delight.

"It's nice," Charlie nodded. He was watching Ellie's excitement steadily build, with a large grin on his face. "Right chaps, we've been banished to the tower – Gryffindor Tower that is – for the evening so if you'd kindly pick you're stuff up from the pile at the door, we shall proceed to the tower with haste," he bowed mockingly to them all.

"Where are the girls staying?" Ron asked his brother.

"Nowhere that you'll be able to sneak in to in the dead of night," Charlie chirped cheerily. Ron's mouth fell open and his tell tale ears gave him away by burning a furious shade of red, he asked no other questions relating to the girls thereafter. The men did as instructed with Remus and Arthur leading the way. In the end Harry, Ron, Remus, Fred and George settled in to the Harry and Ron's dormitory, while Arthur, Bill and Charlie picked the room below them. Once they were all unpacked and had their wedding robes hanging nicely by their beds they congregated in the common room.

"So what else do we have to do?" Harry asked Mr. Weasley.

"We're supposed to be meeting the girls down at the church in ten minutes, we've got to check the place is all right and do a quick run through the ceremony," he answered. When the last of the group, suspiciously Fred and George, had joined them they set off for the church. This was the part that Harry and Ron were most interested in, they had been at Hogwarts for six years and had never even glimpsed a church once, considering that their previous adventures had taken them all over the castle and grounds, this was a near miracle. They were lead out a side door on the ground floor, they walked through the courtyard that this lead them to, through an archway that was opposite the door that they had just come through and found themselves standing in the shadow of a large church. When Harry looked back at the castle behind him he recognised the north tower standing behind him, he had been sitting in divination for three years, staring out the window and had never once had a clue that there was any other building out there.

It was a red sandstone building of gothic design, rising up to meet the sky with a crown on its spire. There was a flight of stairs that led up to the oak front doors that were almost identical to those of the castle. White streamers and flowers had been arranged on the banisters creating a nice contrast with the red stone. The beauty of the outside did no justice to the beauty of the inside; there were high vaulted ceilings, mosaic floors and marble drinking fountains. The ends of the wooden pews had been tied with white and gold materials, with the familiar roses were in small planters at the ends. It took them two hours to get through the practice run; it would have been quicker if Fred and George hadn't been impersonating Mrs. Weasley throughout. They were sat in the front pew with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Ron. Harry watched them from his seat on the other side of the aisle as they poked themselves in the eye with something before they began howling with tears streaming down their faces. They sobbed in to each other's shoulders and began crying out things at random intervals.

"They grow up so fast!"

"What happened to our little boy?"

"I remember their first kiss!"

"Doesn't she look beautiful?"

"I can't believe they're getting married at last!"

This continued for a good long while, Mrs. Weasley was trying hard not to give them the satisfaction of knowing they'd annoyed her, but she eventually cracked. "That's it! I've had enough!" she shouted just as Charlie was about to say his vows. "What do you two think you're doing?" she stood in front of them with her hands on her hips as she so often did and a tear streaked face. As they continued to bawl Fred handed his mother a small clear bottle. "Weasley's Wedding Woes," she began reading from the label. "It'll make you cry at any wedding! – Is this what you've taken? Do you have an antidote?" she asked in a thoroughly un-amused tone. George immediately handed her another black little bottle, she read from the instructions and then poked them in the eyes rather ferociously.

"OOOOOWWW!" the twins yelled in unison. They then returned to their sobbing, which quickly became more of a whimper and eventually disappeared, it was only then that the ceremony continued.

* * *

With everything being set they were ready to retire to the castle, but when they reached the bottom of the stairs outside Harry felt a gentle tugging on his sleeve, he turned to see Ellie looking rather sheepish. 

"What's the matter, Ellie?" he enquired gently, he then realised that Remus was standing right next to her and watching the two of them very carefully.

"Come over here," she gently grabbed his wrist and guided him round to the left side of the church where a vast graveyard lay. She immediately began to pick her way along a row, pulling Harry behind her the whole time, when she eventually stopped he looked at the marble headstone in front of him with shock.

_'Here lie members from_

_The Honourable and Brave House of Potter_

_Nunquam Obliviscar'_

"Is this where they are?" Harry whispered respectfully.

"Everyone for twenty generations, the rest are in the grounds of Potter Hall," Ellie muttered.

"What does the Latin mean?" he asked her.

"Never forget," she said quietly. "They should be here; it's their day as much as it is mine."

"They'll be watching," Remus said quietly.

"No they won't," Harry replied. Both Ellie and Remus looked at him rather shocked. "You're the one that told me," he said to Ellie. "They're always here," he laid his hand on his heart.

"Very true, Harry," Remus was looking at him with distinct pride. "They're always with you, both of you and tomorrow will be no different."

"I just wish…that…Dad was here to walk me down the aisle." One of Ellie's tears slipped around the apple of her cheek, down to her chin and then fell silently to the grass below.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Harry was certain that the answer was no but he wanted her to know they were willing.

"Just stay with me for a while," she pleaded through her flurry of tears.

"Of course," Remus answered, he took one of her hands gently while Harry took the other and they stepped in to hold the poor girl tightly as her body began to convulse with grief.

* * *

When Remus and Harry returned to the tower an hour or so later a raucous party was underway. Fred and George were moving around energetically in front of the fire and slurring their way through 'Get Me To The Church On Time', 

"I'M GETTTING MARRRIED IN THE MOOORNING, DING! DONG! THE BELLSSS ARE GONNNA CHIIIME, PULLL OUT THE STOPPERRR, LET'SSS HAVE A WHOPPERRR, BUT GET MEEE TOOO THE CHURRRCH ON TIIIME…" they sang merrily. Harry spotted that Fred was swinging a half empty bottle of Firewhiskey about.

"Are they drunk?" he asked Ron.

"I – haha! – I think so – haha! –" Ron answered giddily, under his chair there were twenty empty butterbeer bottles and he had a two thirds empty bottle of the fiery whiskey in front of him.

"Are you drunk?" Harry asked with an unsuppressed grin.

"MAAAYYYBBBEEE!" Ron sang.

"I GOT TO BE THERRRE IN THE MOOORNING, SPRUUUCED UP AND LOOOKING IN MY PRIIIMEEE, GIRLSSS, COME AND KISSS MEEE, SHOOOW THAAAT YOU'LL MISSS MEEE, BUT GET MEEE TO THE CHURRRCH ON TIIIMEEE…" Ron now joined his brothers, they were starting to look like a barbershop quartet that was short of a member, but that wasn't for long.

"Some people just can't hold their drink," Charlie laughed. Harry was glad to see that his collection was only a handful of butterbeers and his bottle of Firewhiskey was much fuller than the others.

"Sit down, Harry," Bill patted the chair in between him and Charlie that Ron had been sitting in. He summoned a bottle of mulled mead towards them and began pouring some in to a glass for Harry. "Get that down you, you'll feel better," he garbled almost incoherently, the eldest Weasley brother then jumped out of his seat and joined his siblings in song.

"IF I AM DANCING, ROLL UP THE FLOOR! IF I AM WHISTLING, WHEWT ME OUT THE DOOR!" the four of them chorused together.

"Good to see them enjoying themselves isn't it, Arthur?" Remus said as he helped himself to a bottle of whiskey.

"Why, yes it is," Mr. Weasley was decidedly red in the face and was swaying ever so slightly in his seat. Remus and Harry grinned wickedly at each other before they attempted to catch up with the other six's inebriated state. It wasn't long before all eight of them were singing. Charlie was stood on a chair and the rest of them were in a circle around him.

"FOOOR I'M GETTTING MARRRIED IN THE MOOORNING, DING! DONG! THE BELLSSS ARRRE GONNNA CHIIIMEEE, KICK UP A RUMPUSSS, BUT DON'T LOOOSE THE COMPASSS, AND GET MEEE TOOO THE CHURRRCH, GET MEEE TOOO THE CHURRRCH, FOOOR PETE'S SAKEEE, GET MEEE TOOO THE CHURRRCH ONNN TIIIMEEE!"

**A/N: I'm not really sure what to say after that, other than…Wedding Bells is up next. **


	9. Wedding Bells

**Wedding Bells: **The happy day has arrived; Charlie and Ellie are getting married!

**A/N: Readers beware this is a big ole chapter, trying to fit everything in was murderous but I hope you like it!**

When they woke the next morning it was almost noon and every single one of them had a thumping headache. Fred and George were by far the worst, they lay slumped on one of the couches moaning loudly and proclaiming that they were never drinking again. Only Charlie seemed to be less affected than the others but that didn't stop him casting a charm on the tower windows to stop the sun shining in so brightly. The wedding ceremony wasn't taking place until four o'clock so they had plenty of time to lounge about and recover, Harry was just thinking about suggesting they go and get something to eat when Madame Pomfrey came shuffling in to the common room with a tray of potions in her hands.

"Right which one of you is worst?" she asked sharply.

"How did you know we weren't well?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"Molly came up here to speak to you last night and saw the state you were all in, she asked me if I'd pop up with some Sobering Solution. You're lucky I had some in, I don't have much call for it here in the school," she answered. She handed each of them a small goblet with some steaming green liquid in it and made sure they drank it all. It tasted disgusting, Harry had a strong urge to be sick and he could see he wasn't the only one. Ron leapt out of his seat and rushed in the direction of the bathroom with his hand over his mouth. "I was also asked to pass on a message to you, Arthur."

"Oh yes?"

"Yes, Molly wants you to make sure that all the boys have their speeches ready for the reception. I shall see you all later," she said curtly, she turned on her heel and left the tower swiftly.

"You've all got your speeches sorted, haven't you?" Mr. Weasley asked with a faint hint of alarm.

"I've had mine ready for weeks," Charlie answered.

"I'm fine," said Bill.

"I think I know what I'm going to say," replied a returning Ron.

"Fred? George? Have you decided what you're going to say?" Arthur asked the increasingly lively twins.

"Don't worry, Dad, we know exactly what we're going to say," they responded wearily.

"And you, Harry, have you've worked out what you'll say?" he now looked at Harry encouragingly.

"I've got to say something?" he looked at Remus uncertainly. His answer sent Arthur in to a complete panic.

"Its tradition!" he squealed.

"Calm down, Arthur, I'm sure Harry can find something to say. I'll work on it with him, it'll be fine," Remus said in a calm and soothing voice. This appeared to settle the father of the groom down.

"Shall we go to breakfast?" he said.

"But won't the girls be down there? I thought it was bad luck to see the groom to see the bride on her wedding day?" Harry had a vague memory of one of Aunt Petunia's friends getting married.

"It is very bad luck. But it's now twenty past twelve; the girls will have been up and breakfasted hours ago. Mum said something about them having to be up at eight," Bill answered.

"Eight?" Ron puzzled.

"Yeah, they've got more to do than us. They've got to get up, have a giggle, go to breakfast, do some squealing, go for a shower and do some more giggling. Then the really serious work starts. They've got get their hair done and do some crying. They need their make up done so they can spend hours trying not to cry and ruin it all. Then they have to get their manicures done which means they can't touch anything for at least an hour. After that they actually get in to their dresses and spend the rest of the afternoon skirting around things so that they don't get dirty, then they have to get their flowers and their tiara-thingys sorted. After all that work, they're finally ready to go to the church until, low and behold, they end up doing some more squealing and crying and have to get their make up done all over again. I personally think women should be banned from getting married," George said matter-of-factly.

"I wonder what Alicia thinks of that…" Bill said playfully, it was the right thing though because George's ears suddenly burned red.

"She knows exactly how I feel about marriage," he tried to say defiantly.

"Is that so? Well we might have to ask her about that, she is coming today?" Bill continued.

"She is but you better stay away from her, I don't want you stirring up trouble!" George was very clearly riled. Bill's only response was to hold his hands up in surrender but he grinned at everyone else cheekily. They decided to go for breakfast, well lunch really, and Bill's theory had proved to be right, there wasn't a girl in sight.

"Where are the girls anyway?" Harry asked Remus.

"They're round in Ellie's quarters; Dumbledore had it enlarged so that they could all fit in there comfortably. Speak of the devil," Remus had looked up to the doors of the Great Hall where Dumbledore had appeared with Minister Bones. Both were wearing opulent robes of gold, but Professor Dumbledore's were lined with some purple.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, I hope you are all well?" Dumbledore asked and they all nodded in response.

"Even you, Charles?" Minister Bones enquired.

"I'm fine and dandy," Charlie answered her looking a little confused.

"I must say that you're the calmest groom that I've ever seen," she smiled.

"Well, when you've got fifteen years notice you forget to be nervous," Bill said cheerfully.

"You make an excellent point," Dumbledore affirmed. He and the Minister joined them at the table and began eating.

"You must be very excited, Mr. Potter, this is your first Wizarding wedding I presume?" the Minister asked Harry.

"It is and I'm very excited. Are you coming to the wedding too?" Everyone chuckled at Harry's question except Dumbledore and Remus.

"It is tradition for the Minister of Magic to conduct wedding ceremonies, although these days with so many weddings and other ministerial duties to perform the responsibility is usually passed on to someone else from the Minister's office…" Dumbledore began to explain.

"But with this being such a prominent wedding, I though that I should take the responsibility myself," the Minister finished.

"It's a prominent wedding?" Harry wondered if he was being stupid again.

"Well your cousin is a member of two celebrated wizard families, the Dumbledores and the Potters, and is about to marry in to another. I know it's not a particularly nice realisation but a lot of things in our world revolve around money. When your cousin comes in to her full inheritance, and I pray that it doesn't happen anytime soon," here she emphatically looked at Dumbledore. "She will be among the richest young women in Wizarding Britain and Europe."

"You mean when Professor Dumbledore dies, don't you?"

"Yes, Harry. When Aberforth and I pass on, assuming of course that Aberforth does not reproduce in the mean time, which I think is highly unlikely, Elizabeth inherits the entire Dumbledore family fortune. That in itself would make her richer than most other women in Britain but when combined with what she has inherited from the Black and Potter estates makes her a very wealthy woman indeed," Dumbledore informed him.

"So, you're marrying my cousin for her money?" Harry accused Charlie.

"What?" Charlie nearly choked on his moth full of bacon sandwich. "Harry – I would never – I love Ellie – I don't care about her money – I don't want any of it!" he immediately began to protest.

"I know, I was just checking," Harry chuckled. Charlie expelled a big gust of air and took a second or two to calm himself down.

"Do that again Harry and I swear I'll kill you!" the groom exclaimed.

"I've been thinking, Professor Dumbledore, didn't you say that when a wizard wants to marry a witch he has to ask her nearest male relative?" Harry asked his headmaster.

"I did indeed Harry." There was a mysterious twinkle in the old man's eyes that knew exactly what Harry was about to do.

"Well, normally that would be her father, wouldn't it?"

"It would, yes."

"But obviously Ellie's father isn't here, but responsibility for her was passed on to our grandparents and then my parents, so doesn't that mean that now I'm of age I'm responsible for her?" he asked the wizened wizard.

"Technically I suppose," Dumbledore said slowly.

"You know that there's no 'technically' about it, Albus, now he's of age Harry is head of the Potter household," Remus chipped in daringly.

"So really Charlie should be asking me if he can marry Ellie," Harry turned triumphantly on Charlie who was now looking a little green around the gills.

"Fine, okay. Harry, can I have your permission to marry Ellie?" he asked a little unsteadily.

"No."

"No?" Charlie nearly jumped out of his seat.

"You haven't told me why I should let you marry her?" Harry was determined to rib the man as much as possible.

"Well, you know…"

"No I don't, tell me."

"I love her for a start, I'd never hurt her and I'd never let anyone else hurt her either…"

"That's all very well and good but how are you going to provide for her? Where are you going to live?" he teased mercilessly.

"We'll probably stay on at headquarters until we can find a place of our own and I'm starting a job with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as soon as you lot go back to school. It's a good bit of pay as well, a 200 galleons a year…" he trailed off and looked at Harry pleadingly. "Harry, I want to marry Ellie more than I've ever wanted anything in my life, please give me permission to marry her?" Charlie was well aware that if Harry didn't give him the okay he was up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

"I'm just not sure, Charlie…" Harry continued the torture.

"What could I do to prove myself to you?" he asked eagerly.

"You could…dance around the hall naked," he said in the most serious voice he could muster.

"I BEG YOUR PARDON? You're having me on aren't you?" he glared at Harry critically.

"Yep," Harry replied and returned to his tuna sandwich.

"So do I have your permission?" Charlie asked, referring back to his unsure tone.

"I wouldn't dream of not giving it to you. Besides can you imagine what Ellie would do to me if I did?" Harry got a chill down his spine.

"Harry, we salute you!" Fred and George exclaimed.

"If he wasn't nervous before, he is now," Bill pointed at his younger brother mockingly.

"Now really boys, this isn't funny," Mr. Weasley grinned at his tomato soup.

"Terribly unfair," Remus sniggered in to his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Shut up the lot of you!" Charlie protested with an embarrassed smile.

* * *

After eating the male grooming took place, there were showers all round and a desperate fight with Harry's hair. "Is there nothing we can do with it?" Arthur asked giving Harry's hair a look that was so reminiscent of his wife that it was scary.

"Try some of this stuff on it," Bill handed his father a bottle, which when squeezed emitted a large amount of white goo. He started smearing this on Harry's hair enthusiastically but ten minutes later his hair looked exactly the same.

"It'll never work you know," Remus said on his return from his shower. "Andrew and James tried everything and I do mean everything but nothing worked, they gave up in the end," he smiled warmly at the memory.

"I suppose it's the style when you're seventeen." Arthur looked from Harry's short black hair to Ron's lengthening red, which was looking particularly straggly. "You look like you could use some of this." He then began fussing over his youngest son's mass of hair. After nearly an hour they were all ready, they were wearing matching claret robes, the only exception was Charlie who had the Weasley family coat of arms embroidered in to the back of his. Mrs. Weasley sent Winky to inform them that she was coming to inspect them in ten minutes, so they lined up in front of the fire like soldiers on parade and waited expectantly. It wasn't long until Mrs. Weasley appeared looking rather lovely in long red robes with bell end sleeves. She looked like she had borrowed some of Hermione's supply of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion as her usually fuzzy red hair was pulled back in to a knot at the base of her head. With her hair tamed and her elegant robes on she really was quite a vision.

"Right you lot, I hope you're all feeling better after your escapades last night. I expected better of you, Arthur, and you as well, Remus," she reprimanded and both the older men flushed pink.

"Charlie, you look wonderful. Very handsome," she said proudly and patted him on the arm.

"Bill, I wish you'd let me cut that hair off," she pulled at her eldest sons ponytail.

"I've already told you no, Mum," Bill said patiently.

"Fred, George, you both look fine. Do you have any tricks up your sleeves?"

"None whatsoever," George replied.

"Why don't I believe that?" she asked them suspiciously.

"Most probably because you know that the tricks are in our pockets not up our sleeves," Fred supplied sarcastically.

"Very funny, you'd both better be on your best behaviour, I'm watching you."

"Who said I was joking?" Fred said under his breath but Mrs. Weasley didn't hear him, she'd already moved on to Ron.

"Very nice, Ron, but you're hair is getting just like Bill's maybe I should cut it a little bit?" she reached down for her wand.

"My hair is fine the way it is, Mum!" Ron complained.

"Fine," she answered sharply and moved on to scrutinize Harry. "I suppose you tried everything you could with his hair?" she too eyed it suspiciously.

"It wouldn't lie flat for all the gold in Gringotts," Remus smirked.

"It'll have to do, you look very nice other wise, Harry. Right you all know the order that you've to go in to the church in?" They all nodded. "Good, the girls are already up there putting the finishing touches to everything so you've got ten minutes to finish faffing around and get yourselves out there. Fred and George, what are you doing?" she asked them.

"We're helping people out of their carriages at the foot of the church steps," Fred saluted his mother.

"Good. Bill and Ron, what are you doing?"

"We're showing people to their seats," Bill replied stiffly.

"Excellent. Harry and Remus, Professor Dumbledore has asked that you go straight to the bridal chamber at the church, so you come along as soon as possible please." Molly gave her husband a quick kiss and set off for the portrait hole.

"We'll come just now, Molly," Remus called after her, she was moving very quickly and they had to jog to catch up with her as she darted through the castle.

* * *

When they were back inside the church Mrs. Weasley lead them to a door that Harry hadn't even realised was there on his first visit. It clearly said 'Bride' in copperplate writing. It opened on to a short corridor and another door with a long Latin phrase inscribed in the frame _'Si vos es vir ut exsisto matrimonium tunc averto hic vel specto vita per dolor'_.

"What does that mean?" he asked Remus.

"If you are the man to be married then turn back here or expect a life with misery. The door is charmed so that the groom can't open it. Our ancestors certainly didn't take any chances," he smiled. Mrs. Weasley ushered them in to the room, it was at that point that the feeling of speechlessness swept over Harry.

Ellie was sat on a tall stool in the middle of the room while Tonks was fussing about with a headdress; she was trying to get it sitting right on the bride's head. Ginny was softly manipulating the roses in a bouquet, she then handed this to Ellie who took it with a wide smile. Tonks, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur were wearing dresses of forest green; their dresses had square necks and long open sleeves. It complemented Ginny's hair beautifully. Harry wasn't sure that he'd ever seen his girlfriend look quite so stunning, the sunlight that was filtering in through the windows was bringing out the deepest shades of red in her hair and making the lighter ones glow gold. When she looked up and smiled at him he felt like his legs had turned to extremely wobbly jelly, it almost felt like he was drunk on her beauty. All he could think about was how Ginny would look wearing the white dress and it only served to make him more giddy, his stomach was doing back flips and somersaults. He forced himself to look at the other girls for fear that any second his legs were going to give way on him and he'd make a superb prat of himself in the face of all this splendour and grace.

Tonks had forgone her usually short, bubblegum pink hair in favour of a more demure long, black style that made her look more like Sirius than ever, with her hair this colour she was quite obviously a member of the Black family. Fleur approached Ellie with a necklace strung between her hands; she elegantly reached over the bride to fasten it around her neck, and with it held up to the light Harry recognised it as the necklace she had worn to the Christmas Ball. The large precious stone looked beautiful when set against Ellie's pale skin and the dazzling white of her dress, which was very simple and elegant. For the first time Harry spotted Professor Dumbledore standing off to one side.

"Hello again, Harry, Remus." The headmaster bowed his head slightly to the both of them. "I thought that perhaps you would like to offer some words of encouragement to Elizabeth before the ceremony that is of course if we can anywhere near her," he chuckled. "I distinctly remember that I had to wait nearly an hour to speak to Jane on her wedding day, this all part of the female ritual." He indicated the girls who were creating the kafuffle around his granddaughter.

"Right girls, lets leave Elizabeth alone and make sure we're all ready," she told the other women. Harry grinned widely as Ginny slipped past him and when she placed a quick kiss on his cheek he nearly stumbled backwards. "There we go, Albus," she said as the last of them shuffled out the door.

"Thank you, Molly. Perhaps the two of you should go first, Molly wouldn't be very happy with me if you were late for the procession," he said to Harry and Remus who agreed heartily, they did not want to upset Mrs. Weasley today.

"Remus! Harry!" Ellie yelled excitedly when she noticed their presence. She rose to greet them and the full effect of her stunning dress became obvious. The white was broken by gold embroidery in a Celtic design; she wore a traditional veil that was kept on her head by a bronze headdress with emeralds and diamonds set in to it. The green complimented her golden shade of her red hair, which fell lightly down her back.

"You look mesmerising, Elizabeth," Remus gave his goddaughter a tender kiss on the cheek.

"Really amazing," Harry confirmed as he followed suit.

"Thank you. How's Charlie?" she asked with a flicker of nervousness.

"He was fine until Harry terrorized him," Remus chuckled.

"Harry? Our Harry? This Harry?" she asked grabbing her cousin by the shoulders.

"That Harry, he was ribbing Charlie mercilessly. Made the poor boy ask for his permission to marry you," Remus laughed.

"I hope you left him in one piece?" Ellie scolded.

"Just about," Harry joked. "Are you nervous?"

"A little bit," she replied, it was obvious from the jitter in her shoulders that she was more than a little bit nervous; Harry would have placed a sizeable bet on a lot.

"What have you got to be nervous about?" Remus asked.

"You know the usual. Will I trip over my dress? Will I garble my way through the vows? Will the Death Eaters in the congregation get up to no good? And what happens if Lord Voldemort bursts through the front doors? Just normal bride stuff."

"There are Death Eaters in the congregation?" Harry suddenly felt very uneasy.

"A couple, they're important people at the Ministry and it would have looked very suspicious if they weren't invited. They already know that someone's double-crossing them and Severus is top of their list, we can't make things any worse."

"Everything will be just fine. I feel like I should say something momentous," Remus smiled. "But I'm not sure there's much that I could say that I haven't said before. I'm very proud of you, Elizabeth, you are a wonderful young woman and I honoured to be a part of your life."

"Don't, Moony, you'll set me off," she wiped her eyes warily.

"He's right you know, it is a privilege to know you, you're a…a really special person. I'd never really had a family of my own but you and Remus have been the best that I could have hoped for. Thanks for everything." He grasped her hand.

"Well now you've gone and done it!" She reached around for a box of hankies that were sitting on a nearby table and began to dab her eyes gingerly.

"We just hope that Charlie realises how lucky he is," Remus wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Maybe I should be realising how lucky I am, men like Charlie are rare," she said weeping ever so slightly.

"While I would like to say that you're absolutely right I'm afraid that you're father would kill me if I did so I'm insisting that he's not good enough for you," Remus said sadly.

"I could settle for the best of a bad bunch," she offered.

"I think we could get away with that." He took a quick glance skyward. "Sorry, Andrew."

"That'll do me," she smiled.

"Good luck, Ellie," Remus gave her another kiss on the cheek.

"Best of luck, everything is going be fine you know," Harry said comfortingly.

"Thank you, you two had better get outside before Molly has your guts for garters." She hugged them both and watched them with teary eyes as they left.

* * *

Molly was operating with meticulousness not even seen in the armed forces; the wedding arrangements were being executed with regimental precision. Guests were still pouring in and being greeted, amongst them were several Hogwarts professors including Professor Snape who was looking especially odd out of his ordinary black robes. They ones he donned now were bottle green and Harry was disgusted to realise that they were uncannily identical to his own dress robes. Hagrid was wearing his hairy brown suit once again and gave Harry a big wave and a hearty smile as he entered with Madame Maxime who was looking splendid in sky blue robes that were a very similar colour to those her students wore. There numerous order members were amongst the crowd as well there was Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Dodge and Sturgis Podmore , all of whom were accompanied by women that Harry assumed were their wives. Hestia Jones arrived with wizard that Harry recognised as a Gryffindor student who had been in his seventh year when Harry first joined the school, it made him wonder if Hestia had been at school with him at some point. A tall stooping figure loped his way through the doors, it took Harry a second to realise that this was the barman from the Hogs Head. Why on earth was he here? That question was answered when Remus greeted him. "Hello, Aberforth," Remus said politely. 

"Lupin." Aberforth inclined his head just a millimetre. "Am I in the front pew?" He asked with a gruff voice that was quite unlike his brothers soothing tone.

"Naturally, Ron can show you the way." Remus was just about to ask Ron to escort Mr. Dumbledore to his seat when Aberforth cut across him.

"I can find the way on my own," he said firmly and stepped past them.

"Is that Professor Dumbledore's brother?" Ron asked Remus.

"It is, yes," the older man answered.

"He runs the Hogs Head, I always thought he was a bit weird, the place always smells of goats," Ron wrinkled his face in disgust.

"Well, it's no surprise, Aberforth has always had a fondness for them," Remus smiled to himself, fondness was certainly one way of putting it. Neville came hurrying through the church's vast doors excitedly with his grandmother striding purposefully behind him. "Hi, Harry," he beamed. "Nice day isn't it?"

"Yeah, good wedding weather," Harry replied. Mrs. Figg came over to shake his hand eagerly when she arrived and she rambled on at length about how Mr. Tibbles hadn't been all that well lately. Following Mrs. Figg was a woman with hair that was as black as the night; she was tall for a woman and had the look of an aristocrat. There was no doubt in his mind that this was Andromeda Tonks. This was confirmed when the man a step behind her, who was even taller than she was, reached across in front of her and said cheerfully, "You'll be a Potter of course, Wotcher, Harry!"

"Mr. Tonks?" Harry posed.

"Smart lad eh? Remus, how are you? Hope you're treating that daughter of mine well?"

"I'm fine thank you, Ted, and you really should ask Nymphadora how I'm treating her," Remus smiled.

"I hope I didn't just hear you call me by my first name," Tonks said in a severe voice, she had snuck up behind them.

"Have you met my Mum, Harry?" Tonks gave the tall, dark haired woman a hug.

"Hello, Harry," Andromeda said in a soft and kindly voice that seemed to clash with her sharp and refined appearance.

"Mrs. Tonks," he tilted his head to her.

"Please, call me Andromeda. Sirius talked about you a lot, all of it very good. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she smiled at him; it was Sirius's wide toothy grin.

"Same here, Sirius always said that you were his favourite cousin, the only decent on in the lot," Harry allowed himself to smile at the memory of the day Sirius had showed him where Andromeda, Ted and Tonks should have been on the Black family tree. "You'll be pleased to know that Ellie reinstated you on the Black Family Tapestry."

"Kept it did she? I have to say I think I would have thrown it out," she replied.

"I think the only reason she kept it was because it reminded her of him." He didn't think that at all, he knew it.

"Yes, well I see your point. I hear the both of you took it very hard?"

"We did, he meant a lot to us."

"And you to him, but be comforted by the knowledge that he's in a better place and wherever he is he wouldn't want us to be moping over him on such a happy day," she said optimistically.

"Quite right," Remus whispered, as Andromeda greeted him. After the Tonks' a short but imposing man swept through the doors. He had shoulder length brown hair and deep, olive coloured skin. He was wearing spectacular robes of raspberry red that had flashing gold and silver stars on all over. He glided towards Harry and addressed him in a rich, educated and foreign tone.

"I am Alfeo Nicostrato, the headmaster of Ameretto Carondoni Schuloa Di Magico," he announced. "You are?"

"Harry Potter. It is very nice to meet you, sir."

"You are undoubtedly the cousin of which Elizabeth spoke so much."

"He certainly is, Signore Nicostrato. Remus Lupin." Remus reached out a hand to shake the man's. "I believe we met once before, during Elizabeth's last year…"

"Yes, I remember. Where am I to sit?"

"Bill could you show the professor to his seat please?"

"Course I can, right this way, sir." Bill indicated that Mr. Nicostrato should follow him and they swept off down the aisle. When everybody had arrived and was settled in the right places Fred and George joined Remus, Bill, Harry and Ron in the entrance end of the aisle. Mrs. Weasley then began arranging everyone in to the appropriate pairs and in the right order. Ellie had very graciously asked Professor McGonagall to take the role of mother of the bride and she had accepted. This meant that the Transfiguration professor was first in the procession, she was escorted by Mad-Eye in the absence of Dumbledore who had father of the bride duties to fulfil, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be right behind them. Remus and Tonks followed on, Remus kept grinning at his escort like he couldn't believe his luck. Next came Bill and Fleur, she was muttering excitedly in his ear with her distinctly French accent.

"I am 'oping zat ze next time we 'ave to walk down ze aisle, eet should per'aps be our marriage zat we are celebrating," she said romantically. Bill just smiled; Harry got the impression that he wasn't overly keen on being tied down just yet. Fred and George walked side by side because their girlfriends weren't bridesmaids. Ron followed accompanied by Hermione with Harry and Ginny being last. When they were all lined up properly Mrs. Weasley took her place beside her husband, she waved her wand at an organ at the back of the altar and the procession music began.

At the bottom of the aisle McGonagall and Mad-Eye sat to left while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat to the right, where Charlie was starting to look quite nervous. Remus, Tonks, Fleur, Harry and Hermione all went to the left and Bill, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny went to the right. As soon as they had sat down Minister Bones appeared from a curtained off area to one side of the altar, she stepped to the podium and hushed the whispering crowd, she waved her wand at the organ and music changed to the wedding march. Dumbledore and Ellie were now standing at the far end of the aisle, looking glorious in the beautiful early evening sun. When they reached the altar Dumbledore gave his granddaughters hand to Charlie and took a small step back. Minister Bones pointed her wand at her throat and said 'Sonorous!' before she began.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I welcome you here today, to witness the marriage of Charles Thaddeus Weasley and Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter. But I first I must ask, who brings this woman to marry this man?"

"I do," Dumbledore replied dutifully.

"Very well." She gave him a moment to lift Ellie's veil and give her a quick kiss before she pointed him towards the empty seat beside McGonagall. "This is the time you have chosen to become husband and wife. We are here not only to witness your commitment to each other, but also to wish you both, every happiness in your future life together. Within its framework of commitment and loyalty marriage enables the establishment of a home, where through trust, patience and respect, the love and affection which you have for each other may develop into a deep and lasting relationship. We, who are witnessing your marriage, hope that despite the stresses inevitable in any life, your love, respect for each other, and your trust and understanding of each other will increase your contentment and heighten your joy in living. Marriage is founded on sincerity and understanding which leads to tolerance, confidence and trust. We believe that those qualities, which have attracted you both to each other, can be best developed during a life spent together. A happy marriage will enable you to establish a home with love and stability where your family and friends will always be welcome.

"At this time I would like to read you a passage by Walter Pinder.

_Everyday you live, learn how to receive love with as much understanding as you give it. Find things within yourself, then you can share them with each other. Do not fear this love. Have an open heart and a sincere mind. Be sincerely interested in each other's happiness. Be constant and consistent in your love. From this comes security and strength. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us on this day of your marriage. Try to commit yourselves fully and freely to each other._

"Before you, Charles and Elizabeth are joined in marriage in my presence and that of your family, friends and witnesses, I would like to remind you of the serious and binding nature of the relationship you are now about to enter," she paused for moment to allow them contemplation. "I shall now ask you to make your marriage vows. Charles you will go first."

"I, Charles Thaddeus Weasley affirm my love to you Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon these persons here present to witness that I take you Elizabeth to be my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live," Charlie could not help his grin.

"It is your turn now, Elizabeth," Minister Bones said softly.

"I, Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter affirm my love to you Charles Thaddeus Weasley as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon these persons here present to witness that I take you Charles to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live," as she spoke she began to shed tears of pure, unadulterated joy.

"Could we please have the rings?" the Minister asked. Bill stepped forward with the two rings on a small velvet cushion, he held this forward for her. She picked up the smaller ring and handed it to Charlie, who took his cue from her.

"Elizabeth; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share." He slipped the gold band on to her finger gently and beamed at her. The Minister then picked up the larger ring and handed it Ellie, with his job done Bill stepped back.

"Charles; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share." She pushed the ring along his thick finger.

"You have declared before all of us that you will live together in marriage. You have made special promises to each other, which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows and the giving and receiving of two rings. By the authority vested in me as the Minister of Magic in Great Britain, I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. Charles you may kiss your bride," she smiled at Charlie, who wrapped arm around Ellie's waist and kissed her passionately. "I am delighted to present to you all Mr. and Mrs. Charles Thaddeus Weasley," Minister Bones finally said. For the first time Charles and Ellie turned to face their guests as husband and wife.

**A/N: Phew! They're finally hitched! The next chapter is…Making a Speech. **


	10. Making A Speech

**Making A Speech: **Here we have Ellie and Charlie's reception and their departure for Honeymoon.

Everyone chatted merrily on the walk from the church back to the castle; the new Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were surrounded by a flurry of activity as people wished them well. When they all ended up back in the Great Hall darkness was just beginning to fall and the floating candles had been lit, casting the room a celestial glow. Another long table had been laid near the doors of the hall and was straining under the weight of hundreds of presents. The other tables now bore little name cards at the place settings that dictated who was sitting at each table, at the top table were the family inclusive of it's extended members and girlfriends, in other words, Minister Bones, Professor McGonagall, Mad-Eye, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. The menus that were usually put to use during the balls at Hogwarts were engaged again to feed the many wedding guests. The house-elves did not disappoint and provided a scrumptious feast that would have satisfied any taste buds. After dinner had been devoured the rest of the hall waited excitedly for the top table to finish and the speeches to begin. As effectively the father of the bride Dumbledore was to speak first.

"A hag, troll, and a vampire all walk in to a bar," he started.

"Albus, you can't tell that joke at a time like this," an exasperated Professor McGonagall called from the seat next to him.

"Oh, so sorry, please forgive me, my memory is not quite what it used to be, that is the beginning of a speech I will be giving at a luncheon later this week," the glint in Dumbledore's eye made Harry wonder if this was true. Everyone laughed at this with the exception of Professor McGonagall, who looked rather embarrassed that she had interrupted. Glancing down at his notes Dumbledore began again.

"This has been a hard day for me. Today I gave away my granddaughter; I let somebody have the one person in this world that means more to me than any other. As many of you here know I lost my children and all but one of my grandchildren during the first war against Lord Voldemort." Several people shuddered. "Perhaps because of thatElizabeth has been all the more important to me. I have had the honour and pleasure of watching her grow from a small, stubborn little girl in to the beautiful, gifted and tender young woman you see before you today. She has become the woman that her mother and grandmothers would have dreamed her to be; she is generous in her love for others, fierce in her loyalty to them and strong in her convictions. Her triumphs have been my joy and her trials have been my suffering. It is with tremendous pride and a great deal of love that I proclaim her my granddaughter and it is with crushing melancholy that gave her hand to Charles today. Not because he isn't worthy or because I believe that he won't treat her well but rather because without her welfare to guard I feel a void my life that I hope she will soon fill with great grandchildren.

"Charles is a good man and I could not have hoped for a better husband for my beloved Elizabeth, his mother and father have taught him the value of the important things in life, love, family and friends. For fifteen long years now he has been promising to marry my granddaughter and he kept that promise and leaves me with no reason to believe that he will not fulfil any of those vows he made to her today. He is a fine young man, who will love, respect and care for her in the manner she deserves. I know from many years of finding half written letters to him all over the house that Elizabeth loves him with all her heart, and I know from letters that she sent me each and every week of her stay in Italy, that there was never another person she considered admitting into her heart and spending her life with. I wish both of you every happiness the world has to offer, may your love be everlasting, your marriage strong and your children plenty – although I daresay that with Weasley and Dumbledore genes in there that shall not be a problem. Good luck." He finished by raising his glass to the newlyweds. Mr. Weasley took his place.

"You must recount that joke to me later, Albus," Arthur grinned. "Molly and I have been waiting for the day one of our boys would get married and what a joyous day it has been, well worth waiting for if you ask me. We're very proud of all our children with Charlie being no exception; he has always worked very hard. In the past few weeks I have had dozens of people tell me that they never thought this day would come but we always knew it would, after all it was love at first sight. Andrew and Jane brought Elizabeth to see us for the first time when she was just a few days old and Charlie sat entranced with her as she slept in her mother's arms. After much contemplation he said 'I want an Ellie.' What he really meant was that he wanted a sister, you should have seen his disappointment when he got four more brothers," Arthur paused as a chuckle filtered though the room then he restarted. "But little did he realise that his words were so prophetic, here we stand today and Charlie has his very own Ellie." Molly gave an appreciative little sniff.

"Elizabeth has been charming us since the day she was born, she has never failed to light up a room with her presence and now she comes to light up our family. We are delighted and honoured to have such an enchanting young lady amongst our number, we are also very proud that we taught our son well enough to have made such an excellent choice of wife. To the new Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," he toasted. Remus took to the limelight next.

"Due to my unfortunate condition I have never had much my life to cherish, that was until Elizabeth was born. When Jane and Andrew asked me to be her godfather, I initially refused. I didn't believe that someone like me had anything worthwhile to give a child, what knowledge or advice could I give? I'm not sure how much of a support I have been to Elizabeth in the last nineteen years but I do know what she been for me. She has stood by me unfalteringly; she has loved me without question and she has provided me with a place in the world, a place by her side. I feel that as she has grown, I have grown and as she learned more about herself, I have learned more about myself. As far as my self-awareness is concerned she has continued the legacy founded by her grandfather and her mother, she has continued to teach me that it doesn't matter what I am because it is who I choose to be that matters and I choose to be a person who will always keep a space in their heart for her, someone who will be there no matter what.

"Charlie has taken excellent care of her so far and I need not ask whether he will continue to do this; I understand without a single doubt that he will do right by her. There is no family that I would rather be a part of, the Weasleys are kind, generous, caring people who only take heed of what is in your heart and only care about who you aspire to be and what they can do to help you. I congratulate you both on your dedication to each other and wish joy on everything you do." Remus too raised his glass to the happy couple. Bill was the next to follow.

"It's a strange feeling to stand here and know that my little brat of a brother is married. I don't think I could ever really have imagined any of our lot making a commitment like that but here we all are, we've all got girlfriends and a boyfriend in Ginny's case, a boyfriend who might want to watch his step from what Charlie tells me," Bill raised an eyebrow at Harry significantly. Everyone looked at the sudden terror that streaked across Harry's face and began to laugh once again. "All in all, I'm left with the feeling that it won't be all that long before we're gathered together again to celebrate another Weasley wedding. Charlie always told me he'd marry Ellie and I'll be honest and say that I never thought it would happen, especially when I saw some of the looks he was getting from the girls at school. Credit to you, Charlie, you proved me wrong. There were all those girls sitting in this very hall making gooey eyes at you morning, noon and night but you never even noticed. You spent hours writing to Ellie and I guess it all paid off, you've got a beautiful wife and I'm certain she'll make you happy. You made a good choice Charlie and I hope I can follow your lead." Bill followed the lead of the three men before him in toasting his brother and sister-in-law. As per normal Fred and George took to the floor together.

"So Charlie finally got his act together," George began.

"A time like this calls for honesty…" Fred announced.

"And we have to admit that we're a bit jealous."

"Not that Angelina and Alicia aren't first-rate girls…"

"But they just don't have the sense of humour that Ellie does."

"Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is such a success because of her…"

"She was the only person wiling to be a tester for our products…"

"And for that we thank you. We've also bought a special gift for the two of you…"

"If you would allow us to demonstrate?" George asked politely. Ellie nodded her head with vigour while everyone else at the table looked at the twins apprehensively. The pair of them reached down in to their pockets and pulled out several little silver balls, they then launched these in half a dozen different directions. Instead of landing as you would expect they floated in the air and after ten seconds every last one of them exploded. They sent showers of brightly coloured confetti soaring in to the air and a loud, chirpy voice yelled _'CONGRATULATIONS!'_ over the surprised screams of the other guests.

"Weasley's Bridal Bombshells, created especially for Charlie and Ellie Weasley!" Fred declared before the pair returned to their seats. It was then Ron's turn.

"How do you follow that?" he said nervously. "Um… I know that I can sometimes be… an ungrateful swine. Sometimes I don't properly realize what I have and I have a great family, better than most. I'm proud to have such great brothers, Charlie included. I've always known that if I had a problem I could ask him for advice and he wouldn't tease me like Fred and George." The twins grinned proudly at this; the guests at other tables chuckled agreeably. "I really look up to you, Charlie, and I hope that maybe someday I can be more like you. Ellie's my Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher and my friend, she nearly died trying to protect me, Ginny, Hermione and Harry, and we would do the same for her. Welcome to the family, Ellie," Ron said enthusiastically. Unfortunately that meant that it was Harry's turn next.

"Before I do anything else I should apologise to Charlie, I put him through hell this morning with my teasing and I'm sorry about it," Harry tried to suppress his laughter.

"You nearly turned me in to a nervous wreck. He pretended that he wasn't going to give me permission to marry Ellie," Charlie explained to his guests and an appreciative gurgle of laughter echoed around the room.

"But he looked so upset I had to say yes in the end. I was worried Ellie would turn me in to something disgusting if I didn't," Harry grinned; he was starting to feel more comfortable. "I suppose the first thing I need to talk about is September the first 1991. That was the day that I set out for Hogwarts and was abandoned by the Dursleys at King's Cross, I was wandering about looking for any clues as to how I could find Platform 9 ¾ when I heard Mrs. Weasley say 'packed with Muggles,' Hagrid had already explained to me what Muggles were so I knew that she must be a witch. It took a fair bit of nerve for the skinny little eleven year old that I used to be, to ask her if she could show me how to get on to the platform but I've never looked back. That was the first kind thing she did for me and she hasn't stopped. She and her family have given me so much, a best friend, a girlfriend," he blushed a little bit. "Along with a whole handful of brothers and the closest thing to a mother and father that I'll ever have. They've taken me in and made me a part of their family and thank you isn't enough.

"I like you a lot, Charlie, you're from a good, loving family and you'll take care of Ellie. I don't know what to say about you, Ellie, up until November I didn't even know I had another cousin but you're a thousand times better than the other one I have…"

"You can say that again!" Fred confirmed.

"I know you feel bad that you weren't here for a lot of the stuff that's happened since I got to Hogwarts but don't, you've more than made up for it. You nearly died for me, which says a lot. When you took me back to Potter Hall I saw how happy our parents had been and I really hope that you and Charlie can be just as happy as they were because no two people deserve it more. Congratulations!" he said as he happily toasted his cousin and her husband. The last person to speak was the groom.

"Thanks for what you said, Harry, it means a lot to us. My dad mentioned all the people who had told him they didn't think that this day would come but what he didn't say was that I was one of them. When Ellie was sent off to Italy I honestly believed that would be the last that I saw of her, I didn't think I could compete with all those good looking Italian lads." Several of the women in the hall smiled sweetly at him at this point. "We wrote to each other almost every week that she was away and when you consider that she spent seven years there that adds up to a lot of letters, over three hundred in fact. I'm not talking tiny little letters either; I mean two, three foot rolls of parchment, her owl always used to look at me so resentfully when I attached my reply. The girl that sits next to me is the only person in this hall who can say, unequivocally, that she knows me better than anyone else, there's very little that has happened in my life that she doesn't know about, she's been my best friend and now she's my wife.

"The months you were in hospital were the worst of my life and when Healer Adelaide said she didn't think that you'd make it I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest, I was devastated. There are no words to describe the way I felt when you came through those doors, sore but alive, I've never felt so relieved in all my life. I think that was probably the moment I knew I had to marry you as soon as I could. Sirius said in his will that thought of you and I being together warmed his heart and so hope that wherever he is, he's as happy as I am that you finally let me get you to the church. The rest of you have to hurry up and get married because there's no feeling like it. I can't wait to start spending our lives together and to start our family, we don't know what's to come but we know that we have each other and that's enough. To my wonderful wife." He gave her loving kiss as he sat back down. It had all got too much for Ellie and she was now wiping her eyes with a handkerchief passed to her by Professor McGonagall. She wasn't the only one shedding tears, Mrs. Weasley was weeping in to Mr. Weasley's shoulders, his eyes were looking dangerously moist as well.

* * *

Some chatter followed the speeches until a small orchestra took to the stage and struck up a slow, romantic tune. Charlie gently pushed his chair back and addressed his new wife.

"Mrs. Weasley, would you care to dance?" he asked her politely.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, I would," Ellie replied with wide grin. He swept her from her seat and on to the dance floor where they danced together slowly; they smiled at each other widely the whole time they were on the floor. It wasn't too long before most of the seats were empty and the dance floor was filled with swaying bodies. A lot of the older couples remained seated, preferring to sit and watch the youngsters dance it out. This time Harry felt far more comfortable dancing with Ginny, the atmosphere at the wedding was a lot more relaxing than the one at the ball. On top of that there wasn't the pressure of trying not to trip up in front of the whole school. Four hours later Dumbledore's voice rang through the hall.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, your carriage awaits you." He signalled to the front doors. Very reluctantly Charlie and Ellie stopped dancing and headed for the castle's entrance. True enough, a gleaming carriage, complete with white horses, was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. The couple said goodbye to their family with hugs and kisses all round. Charlie was helping Ellie in to the carriage when Mrs. Weasley's voice rang through the air.

"Aren't you going to throw your bouquet, Elizabeth?" she asked.

"I nearly forgot." The woman in white scrambled back out of the carriage and promptly turned her back on the crowd watching her. Harry spotted all the men in the mob and some of the older women, stepping off to the side and abandoned Ginny to follow suit. The women then crammed in to the gaps left by the departing males.

"What's this all about?" Harry asked Bill who was stood nearest him.

"Whichever girl catches it first is supposedly the next to get married," he answered watching Fleur worriedly.

"Good Luck Girls!" Ellie called before throwing her flowers high in to the air, she turned around just in time to see Hermione catch them. "Remember what I told you Hermione!" she shouted over the mass of girls that were now cooing in Ron's direction.

"That's tough," Bill said looking at Ron sadly. "Anything you want to tell us?"

"No," Ron answered; he was looking very, very pale.

The carriage finally set off in to the distance with a big sign that the boys had painted on the back glittering 'Just Married' through the darkness.

**A/N: The next chapter winging its way to you is…Anxious Alley.**

**As always if you could review I'd be very grateful!**


	11. Anxious Alley

**Anxious Alley: **Quite a lot happening here, more badges work their way in to the hands of our favourite people, Ginny gets her OWL results, Ellie and Charlie come back from their honeymoon and the gang set off for a day in Diagon Alley.

Once they had returned to Grimmauld Place the following morning everything started to return to normal. In the past few weeks the house had been swallowed by wedding arrangements but it was now quiet and all the wedding debris had been tidied away. Dobby had been ecstatic to see them; he had launched himself at people in turn and trilled about how he was so happy they were home. With little else to do the teens had returned to playing good old Quidditch, although it wasn't really Quidditch because they only had three players – Hermione had point blank refused to get on a broom without a very good reason and apparently making them up to an even number didn't count as one. For a day or two they helped Mrs. Weasley move Charlie's things up in to Ellie's room and then re-decorate Charlie's room in to a guest room.

Harry hadn't been in the master suite since Ellie had shown it to him one day before Christmas when they were decorating. It now bore almost no resemblance to the dusty room it once was. Ellie had embellished the room with some of her personal things, a whole shelf was dedicated to several pictures of her and Harry when they were little. Amongst these was a picture of Remus and Sirius holding their prospective godchildren, it looked like Ellie and Harry were in the process of having a fight because the two men were frantically trying to make him let go of her hair. The last picture was one taken on his birthday; the two of them were joined by Neville and were beaming in to the camera with delight. Harry's heart did a little leap, the last person he had known with this many pictures of him was Colin Creevey and that was only because he was the famous Harry Potter. It was nice to know that somebody wanted a load of pictures of him for a different reason. She had added three bookcases and a writing desk to the collection of furniture that was already in the room. The shelves of the bookcase were stacked with hundreds of books, Harry recognised the covers of a good number of them as books he himself owned but these editions were very different from his own, owing to the fact that they were in Italian. A piece of parchment had been framed and hung on one of the walls. Harry immediately recognised the handwriting as that of Professor Dumbledore.

_Dearest Elizabeth,_

_The first time I held you in my arms and you wrapped your tiny hand around my index finger, I felt my heart swell with immeasurable joy and pride. I knew that my life had been touched in a miraculous way that would transform every dimension of it forever._

_From the moment you were born, you became the focal point of my existence. Your smile was the sunshine in my heart. Your happiness was the only treasure I sought._

_So began the great paradox of my guardianship. For when your tiny hand touched mine, I knew that I had been chosen to nurture you, love you and then give you the strength to let go._

_Letting go is not easy. But I look at you now – a beautiful young woman, strong in you convictions and determined to face life on you own terms – and I still feel my heart swell with pride and joy._

_My dreams for your life might not always be the same ones as you seek. But one thing remains the same: your happiness will always be my greatest treasure. I know now that the true miracle of that first touch lies in one simple truth: even though your hand may slip away from mine, we will hold each other in our hearts forever._

_All my love, now and always_

_Granddad._

Harry was left speechless at such a touching display of love. He continued to glance around the room and saw another roll of parchment on her desk addressed to someone with a foreign name; it was a letter in delicately scripted Italian. On the shelves of yet another bookcase he saw notebook after notebook lined up neatly, quite obviously her school jotters. "Look at this," Harry called to the others as he ran his finger along the spines.

"It's official, she's barking!" Ron declared.

"Why's that?" Hermione had plucked a book from the shelf and was running her eyes over the pages. Despite the fact that she could only understand every other word she breathed deeply in appreciation for the wealth of knowledge that lay in her hand. "Look here," Hermione smiled. She held the book up to them and they saw that one of the pages was devoid of the normal foreign prose that lined the others. Instead this page was festooned with little hearts that had Charlie's name written in them and large chunks where Ellie had signed her name in various forms, 'Elizabeth Weasley,' 'Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Weasley,' 'Elizabeth Potter-Weasley,' 'Elizabeth Dumbledore –Weasley,' and so on. They all grinned at each other; it was just so funny to think of. They had a vision of Ellie sitting in a classroom, in some exotic terrain with a teacher who was conversing with her class in a glamorous sounding language but all she could think about was rainy old England and how she would sign her married name.

"Why would anyone want to keep their school books?" Ron asked.

"Because they might come in useful one day," Molly interrupted. "Now if you don't mind, stop snooping and give me a hand!"

* * *

On the third Monday of August the normal letters from Hogwarts arrived just after breakfast, Ginny couldn't bear to even look at her letter. Harry felt horribly guilty; he had almost forgotten that his girlfriend had taken her OWLs at the end of the last school year.

"Ginny, it'll be fine, you probably did really well, nearly as well as Hermione I'd bet," Harry said comfortingly.

"He's right, after Percy you were always the brain of the family." Ron looked just a little bit sad at the memory of his deceased older brother. After a few more minutes and Mrs. Weasley threatening that if Ginny didn't open them she would, the youngest member of their group opened her letter.

"Well?" her mother asked tensely. Ginny's jaw was hanging open giving Harry a lovely view of her fleshy, deep pink tongue.

"I got them all, ten OWLs. Seven O's three E's and an A!" Ginny was clearly in shock.

"Oh Ginny! That's wonderful, what an achievement! Well done you!" Mrs. Weasley alternated between hugging Ginny tightly and kissing her cheeks.

"I'm suddenly starting to appreciate how you feel," Harry muttered quietly to Ron.

"What do you mean?" Ginny beamed.

"Having a girlfriend who's a brain is a horrible feeling," Ron informed her.

"Oh! Like that is it?" Harry noticed the way she was squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high; he knew instantly that he was in trouble. "Maybe you should find a girlfriend who's less intelligent, if you ask her nicely enough Cho Chang might have you back," she said haughtily.

"Even if she'd have me I wouldn't have her. I've moved on to bigger and better things," he smiled at her sweetly and rest his hand on hers; he could see her melting before she'd even said a word.

"Besides the smarter ones are better," Ron gave Hermione an appreciative look.

"Well just you remember that," Ginny said in a half-hearted manner. "Aren't you two going to open your letters? Just think it's the last one you'll ever get!"

"It's so weird. Our last year," Harry rambled to himself; he picked up his letter and looked at it hard.

"After all the trouble we had in first year I didn't think we'd make it," Ron said disbelievingly.

"And then there was the trouble in second year when we broke a 'hundred different school rules to pieces' to quote McGonagall," Harry added.

"Don't forget when Snape caught you sneaking back from Hogsmeade when you didn't have permission to be there, and had the Marauders map on you which then insulted him; repeatedly. Oh third year, how long ago you seem!" Ron said reflectively.

"Of course, then there was fourth year. When that cup spat out my name I thought I was done for, I was convinced I was going to die and you weren't talking to me," Harry added sardonically.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that mate." Ron shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Let's not forget fifth year, when you were this close." Here he demonstrated an impossibly tiny measure with his finger and thumb, "to getting expelled for mutiny and the rest of us weren't far behind you," he smiled.

"But at least last year I behaved my self!" Harry protested.

"Right, you only reduced a teacher to tears twice and came within a hippogriffs feather of killing another student, that you then knocked unconscious for two days. Your definition of behaving is different from other peoples." Ron grinned wickedly.

"Well maybe this year will be different, there's a first time for everything isn't there?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course there is," Ginny said comfortingly.

"I hope you won't be insulted if I don't bet on that," Ron said.

"Nah, I'm sure you'll do something else that I can consider insulting," he joked, Ro started to complain but Harry cut him off. "We should really open these things you know," he picked his letter up but before he had a chance to tear at the flap Hermione let out a scream.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! I don't believe it…" she was shrieking over and over again. Ron picked a little silver badge up for Harry to see. The letters HG were emblazoned on it in Gryffindor scarlet.

"Hermione, that's superb!" Mrs. Weasley attempted to squeeze all the air out of Hermione's slight frame.

"Wow, 'Mione, congratulations," Harry said, thrilled that Hermione had accomplished her dream.

"I just don't believe it!" she replied, she was shaking her head from side to side in disbelief.

"Oh please!" Ron shouted louder than he intended to, Hermione looked at him with anger flashing in her eyes but he managed to head her off before she started a tirade against him. "There wasn't any doubt, we've known since first year that you were Head Girl material, haven't we, Harry?" his eyes begged Harry to help him save the situation.

"It was a cert; they would've been insane to pick anybody else." He turned to Ron and put on an astonishingly high-pitched voice, _'I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could have been killed – or worse, expelled.'_ It's not a surprise at all." Harry and Ron were doubled up with laughter.

"What they're trying, very unsuccessfully, to say is that they knew you could do it and well done," Ginny translated. "I wonder who got Head Boy."

"I hope it wasn't Malfoy. I could cope with anybody but a Slytherin," Ron said as he finally got around to opening his letter as well. He nearly jumped through the ceiling in surprise when another silver badge fell on to the table in front of him. He made an indistinct almost strangled kind of noise in the back of his throat.

"Ron!" Harry yelled.

"Is that what I think it is, Ron?" Mrs. Weasley pleaded on the verge of bursting.

"I got Head Boy," Ron breathed barely audible.

"Another Head Boy! Oh, Ron, I'm so proud!" she cried. She repeated her earlier behaviour of alternating cheek kisses with hugs, only this time Ron protested.

"Muuuuum!" he hollered. "Mum, geeerrrooofff!" Unfortunately his mother paid no attention.

"What a wonderful month, a wedding, ten OWLs and two heads in the family! Just wait till your father hears about this, I'm so pleased with you. All the trouble you four have had and you're not letting it stop you…" At this point she descended in to sobs. "Never – sniff- never seen four children – sniff – like you – sniff – you're all so brave – sniff – and so smart…" she leaned over the table and wept in to her sleeves.

"Mum, don't cry." Ginny shifted along the table and patted her mother on the shoulder comfortingly.

"It's alright, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione added as she too moved closer to the distraught woman. Harry and Ron just sat and looked at each other; neither of them was particularly good at dealing with their own tears never mind anyone else's.

"So we go away for a week and you manage to reduce our mother to tears?" This came from Charlie who was now standing in the doorway looking more tanned than ever. Ellie was grinning over his shoulder until she saw that Molly was crying.

"What's wrong Molly? Has something happened?"

"No dear, I'm – sniff – just being silly. We've had some good news, Ginny got ten OWLs and we've got a Head Boy and Girl in the family now." Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes on her apron and smiled at each of her children in turn.

"Go Ginny! Congratulations, Ron and Hermione, we knew you had it in you," Charlie said in return.

"Sounds to me like we've got a very good reason for a party," Ellie said merrily.

"That's a good idea, I'll set to work straightaway," Mrs. Weasley dragged herself up from the table.

"No you will not, you'll let Dobby and Winky do it. You can oversee everything but first you're going to have a cup of tea," her daughter-in-law countered. She conjured some tea with her wand and immediately poured some in to the cup.

"Here I am sobbing away when I should be asking how your honeymoon went?" She allowed a cup to be pushed in to her hands.

"We had a lovely time, although it was quite strange." Ellie had made herself a cup of steaming tea as well.

"What was strange?" Ginny asked.

"It was so quiet," Charlie replied.

"It was too quiet, there was no queue to get in to the bathroom, no fighting over the plates of food at breakfast, lunch and dinner, nobody getting told off, no explosions in the background… far too quiet," Ellie confirmed.

"Just wait until you have children, you'll learn to cherish those quiet moments," Molly laughed. "Will I be waiting long for grandchildren?"

"I don't think so." Charlie thanked his lucky stars for his tan. It meant you couldn't really tell that his face was burning with embarrassment. Harry, Ron and Ginny sniggered.

"Had him working on it already have you, Ellie?" daring Ginny asked.

"Something like that." She answered in to her teacup. Ron and Harry snorted some more.

"Would you two please grow up!" Hermione scolded.

"That's very good advice," Mrs. Weasley said through narrowed eyes.

* * *

The next morning Mrs. Weasley woke them early and started hustling them in to getting up and dressed. They congregated by the fire and waited for the all clear signal, Mad-Eye and Remus had been the first to floo in to Fred and George's shop to check that it was safe for the rest to arrive, after a couple of minutes red sparks shot out of the fire and Ron shuffled forwards. Like the year before they emerged in the stock room of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, a room that was fuller than ever. They left the shop and headed straight for Gringotts, Harry watched as the guard closed ranks around him and his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were leading the group, Charlie and Ellie to the left, Bill and Fleur to the right and Remus and Tonks were at the back. Other order members were milling around, Kingsley was standing on the front steps of the bank apparently engrossed in the morning's paper, Emmeline Vance was running her fingers along the spines of books on display outside Flourish and Blotts, Dedalus Diggle was admiring the owls outside the Magical Menagerie and Hestia Jones was leafing through the robes just inside the door of Madame Malkin's. "Is something going on?" he asked Ellie with some suspicion, he had never seen this many order members out and about at one time.

"What do you mean?" Her eyes never stopped scanning the crowd.

"Are you expecting an attack?" Ginny asked, her grip on Harry's hand tightened significantly and he gave her a little squeeze back.

"Doesn't hurt to be vigilant, constantly," Ellie replied with the faintest hint of a smile, her eyes drifted over to the entrance to the Apothecary where Mad-Eye was supposedly talking to Dung, his normal eye was firmly on Dung's face but his magical was spinning quicker than ever.

"Is that a yes?" Harry hated it when people tried to fob him off with non-answers.

"It's a 'we have suspicions so keep your eyes peeled,'" she answered sharply. Harry immediately passed this advice on to Ron and Hermione and another eight eyes were added to the alert collection.

Once their money bags were full they shuffled their way round the shops, Harry decided to get a new set of robes this year not because he'd grown any but because his old ones were looking a bit on the tatty side of things. They moved quickly to Flourish and Blotts where they picked up their new textbooks, for Harry and Ron these were.

_'The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 7 by Miranda Goshawk_

_Advanced Potion Making by Libatius Borage_

_Human Transfiguration by Caractacus Aesalon_

_Caring for Magical Creatures by Wilhemina Grunnion_

_Fighting The Dark Arts: A Guide To Practical Defence by Dorcas Meadows'_

The books were thicker than ever before and were a bleak reminder that this year would be the hardest yet. Their next stop was the stationary shop where they all stocked up on parchment, quills and ink, and then they walked hastily from there to the apothecary.

With each shop they went to part of the guard stationed themselves outside while the rest tried to cover all the nooks and crannies inside. There was no need for anyone to tell them how serious their suspicions were, the speed with which they moved conveyed that more than adequately, as far as Harry could tell there was going to be an attack in Diagon Alley and the order wanted them out of there as soon as possible. Molly had worry creased in to her brow and beads of sweat were gathering on her temples, it was clear that the anxiety was almost too much for her. With his eyes not focused on the street ahead he spotted the way all of the people around them had their fists jammed in their pockets, undoubtedly wrapped around the only things that stood between them and death in the case of an attack, it made Harry very nervous. If the Oder were on full alert then they expecting there to be a very serious attack, he no longer wanted to be in the Alley, he desperately wanted everyone home and out of harms way. That, of course, would never work; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny would be deposited at headquarters with Molly while the rest of them rushed off to fight and he didn't want that either.

Harry cursed loudly when he felt Ellie give him a hard shove that sent him careering in to Ginny and propelled the both of them behind a collection of animal cages outside the Magical Menagerie. Harry ended up collapsed on top of Ginny and was about to complain when Ginny clamped her hand over his mouth and nodded at Ellie and Charlie who were crouched close to them with one facing up the alley and the other facing down the way, they had their wands out and were peering around the edges of the cages. Harry leaned forward to ask them what was going on but he heard many thunderous pops that announced a person apparating and then watched as people darted across the narrow field of vision looking absolutely terrified and screaming in a deafening way. Ginny tugged desperately at his arm and pointed to a shop window opposite where the crystal clear reflection of three Death Eaters could be seen.

**A/N: A nice little cliffy for you the next chapter is called…Death Eater Encounter.**

**Have fun!**


	12. Death Eater Encounter

**A/N:** I'm sorry that you had to wait so long for this, life kind of got on top of me for a while there. Please forgive me!

**Death Eater Encounter: **The Death Eaters are swarming around Diagon Alley, a fierce battle is going to ensue and someone close to Harry is going to end up caught in the crossfire.

Harry and Ginny drew their wands and shifted forwards so that they too could see what was going on. For a second Charlie was going to push them back but he thought about it again and turned his attention back to the parading Death Eaters. Reading Harry's mind once more, Ellie frantically summoned them forward and whispered to them urgently. "As soon as they start attacking we fight back, fire off any spell you can think of and stick together, do not get separated!" They didn't have to wait too long for the Death Eaters to do something; Harry heard the cool and calm voice of Lucius Malfoy calling above the screaming pandemonium.

"Spread out and look for Potter, the Dark Lord will settle for one of his little friends." Harry saw the reflection of a hooded figure pointing the others in different directions. After a few seconds the flashing began as curses flew up and down the street, the Death Eaters had a take-no-prisoners attitude to their search for Harry, the scattering witches and wizards were hit with a large variety of spells. The instant that the first flash reverberated through the air Charlie and Ellie rose from their hiding place and started to fire any spell that came to their minds.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Ellie shouted and the wand of a nearby Death Eater flew in to her hand, she banged it fiercely on the cage shielding her and it snapped in half.

"_Dimitto_!" Charlie yelled; pointing his wand in the other direction. The attacker he was aiming at shot backwards and his head ricocheted off the wall behind him; he was unconscious. There was furious muttering amongst the black clothed people as they realised where Ellie was.

"Get her!" Malfoy shouted, "The boy will be nearby!"

Confident that they knew roughly where he was and that they would double the strength of their attack on this section of street, Harry joined the fray. "_Flatus_!" he bellowed; pointing his wand at the nearest Death Eater who fell backwards through the table of books in front of Flourish and Blotts.

"_Incendio_!" he heard Ginny calling; he felt her line up with him back to back and saw the robes of the Death Eater she was aiming for burst in to flames. In a moment he had to spare in between casting spells he spotted the rest of the Order members taking cover and shooting whatever they could at their opponents. Mad-eye was frantically dodging up and down behind the counter in the Apothecary with Dung only jumping up when he thought that it was safe enough. Kingsley was darting between the pillars at the front of Gringotts and pointing his wand at just about anything that moved. Emmeline Vance was lying out cold in the doorway of the bookshop and Hestia Jones was now leaning over her trying to check if she was all right whilst she was fending off another onslaught from Emmeline's attacker.

"_Stupefy_!" Ellie roared as a new Death Eater advanced on them, the curse missed its mark; instead hitting an innocent bystander behind him. Harry covered her with a Reductor Curse as she lifted the spell on the unfortunate woman. Their concentration was thrown when Charlie stumbled backwards, he had been hit in the arm with a boil hex; he apologized profusely while Ginny reversed the spell and Ellie covered his side of the street.

Fred, George and Lee rushed out of the shop and joined in the battle. It felt like every time they dealt with one Death Eater another three took their place; in fact they spent what felt like forever creating shields of varying strengths and sizes. Her concern for her husband had drawn Ellie's attention long enough for a Death Eater to shout "_Incarcerous_!" Ropes shot out of the end of his wand and began winding their way around her wand arm; Ellie immediately tried to pull out of it but her efforts were to no avail. She jerked suddenly in an attempt to free her arm but the grip was so tight that her shoulder gave a nauseating pop as her arm came out of its socket; although her face twisted in pain no noise escaped her mouth. The ropes continued to creep up her arm and circled round her neck as Harry looked on horror struck.

"Harry!" Ginny shrieked. She gently pushed him out of the way and cast a severing spell that cut the ropes; they instantly uncoiled themselves and dropped to the floor limply. Ellie flinched as she tried to move her arm and opted to use her other arm instead; her aim wasn't as good with it but it was good enough to keep Lord Voldemort's servants at bay. Another Death Eater who was trying to sneak down through the shadows on their right decided to change tactics and began casting unforgivables at them; he very nearly caught them but Ellie cast a spell that Harry hadn't heard before.

"_Validus Contego_!" A large green bubble manifested itself on the end of Ellie's wand, it quickly swelled until it had encompassed her and Harry, the curse that the Death Eater sent at them bounced off it and doubled back on its caster; catching him before he had a chance to move or conjure a shield. When Ellie launched her counter attack the green shield began to fade away and she only narrowly missed being hit with the Cruciatus Curse when it disappeared entirely. Ginny yelped and it was Harry's turn to lose concentration.

"Ginny are you ok?" He knelt back in to the shelter of the cages to attend to his girlfriend. She had a long cut down the side of her face from a Severing Charm.

"I'll be ok," she assured him. She lurched in to Harry's chest when their cover was blasted to smithereens, the hooded individual who had destroyed their shelter then threw two stunning spells at them in quick succession, with no time to counter act it; Harry braced himself to try and take both blasts but Ellie had a spare second to shout out.

"_Excipio Magus_!" The two spells were swallowed by a white cloud emitted from Ellie's wand. Harry pulled Ginny to her feet and they went to work again. Every time someone got to close to their group they were taken out of the battle, the number of Death Eaters was eventually whittled down from thirty or more to ten.

The alley was a catastrophe. Bodies, alive and dead, littered the ground, several shops were on fire after being hit by stray curses, the debris of books, clothes, tables and barrels was scattered every where. An age seemed to pass before Aurors started apparating in to the street and they finally overcame the assault, those Death Eaters who had escaped harm were quickly captured. Remus and Tonks came rushing towards them with Moony immediately fussing like an old mother hen; he insisted on inspecting Ellie and Harry for any signs of damage.

"Are you both alright?" he asked breathlessly; he grabbed Harry by the shoulders and looked him over.

"I'm fine, Moony," Harry smiled; Remus's concern was touching. With Harry's well being established it was Ellie's turn and when he grabbed her by the shoulders she let out a single piercing note. He immediately let go of her.

"I'm not quite fine, my shoulder's dislocated," Ellie told him through gritted teeth.

"Ellie, I'm sorry," Remus gushed.

"It's okay. Is everybody else is alright?" she asked once she had composed herself.

"None of the family were hurt, but Emmeline has some serious looking injuries and Hestia was subjected to the Cruciatus Curse but other than that there's nothing life threatening. We managed to capture thirteen of the ones who were unconscious and seven who were still standing when the Auror's arrived," he reported.

"Let's just get everyone out of here," she requested. They all headed back up towards the twin's shop and as they neared it Mrs. Weasley spotted the blood on Ginny's face.

"Ginny! What happened? Are you feeling okay? Do you need to sit down?" the anxious mother flustered.

"I'm okay, Mum, it's just a cut." Ginny allowed her mother to hug her.

"We couldn't see you properly from where we were, we thought something terrible might have happened," Molly cried.

"Everyone's alive, Molly, let's get them out of here and back home," Tonks advised.

"Yes, yes of course. Come on everybody." Mrs. Weasley started herding them in to the shop. Arthur was setting about making them a portkey to go home when there was another loud pop at Ellie's side.

"So you've kept Potter out of harm's way again," said the steely voice of Lucius Malfoy. He reached out to grab Ellie by the shoulders and pulled her against him so that she became his shield, he knew that none of them would dare fire any curses for fear of hitting the boy's pretty guard. She cringed in agony at his tight grip on her injured shoulder. "You foolish girl, when are you going to realize that you can't save everyone? Make the choice right now; I'll spare the boy for one of the others. Who would you sacrifice? The werewolf? Your husband?" his voice oozed with loathing. "Perhaps it would be one of the other Weasley fools? Or maybe the Mudblood? Perhaps even that half-blooded filth from the House of Black? Choose," he demanded. Ellie stayed silent.

"I said CHOOSE. Who will it be?" She still refused to answer him. "The Dark Lord will teach you obedience in the best way possible; sorrow. Take a good look at these faces." He jabbed his wand at the large group in front of them. "You will see them die one by one, starting with…." In the blink of an eye he had waved his wand at Remus and Disapparated with another loud crack. The all looked on as a deep colour stained the man's robes; he looked at Ellie with his eyes wide in astonishment. In a matter of seconds Remus John Lupin was deathly pale and collapsed on to the floor.

(A/N: FYI : Dimitto to send away i.e Banishing Charm, Flatus to blast i.e Blasting Curse, Validus Contego strong shield i.e another variation on the Shield Charm and Excipio Magus capture magic and I have no i.e for that. The other three came for the Encyclopaedia of Spells at the Harry Potter Lexicon.)

* * *

Harry had never heard Ellie scream the way she did when Remus fell. Ellie was the calmest person that he knew, she had stared straight down the length of Voldemort's wand as death darted towards her and hadn't even flinched, but Remus's injury was too much for her. The cool and composed facade that she normally wore surrendered to overpowering terror as she kneeled at her godfather's side calling his name in a pitch that sounded almost like a yelp of torture. "Somebody do something!" she yelled. Molly immediately ushered Ellie out of the way and began conjuring dressings, she had Tonks press these on to Remus's abdomen.

"We need to get him to St Mungo's straight away, Alastor," she said sharply to Mad-Eye.

"Right you are, Molly. Arthur, Bill and Ms. Delacour you can come with me," Moody instructed. The four of them then jumped in to the fire.

"Fred and George, go and tell Dumbledore what's happened," Molly ordered. The twins didn't hesitate in apparating. "Charlie, Ron and Hermione, you can keep guard at the front door, wands out!" A second or two later they swept aside to let Kingsley bowl through the door.

"What happened?" he asked with grave concern.

"Remus was attacked by Lucius Malfoy, perhaps you should report to the Minister, Kingsley," Molly advised.

"I was just on my way, are you sure that you'll be alright here?"

"We'll be fine; Alastor, Arthur, Bill and Fleur are checking St Mungo's. Fred and George are getting Dumbledore and those three are watching the door," Molly indicated the three watchmen.

"Good, don't forget to keep me updated. Tonks, I'm afraid you'll have to come with me," he whispered softly to the shell-shocked girl. Poor Tonks was staring at the pool of blood forming at her boyfriend's side.

"I can't…I've got to stay with him," she stuttered.

"You go, dear, we'll take good care of him. If anything happens I'll send one of the boys along," Molly assured her. Tonks reluctantly allowed Kingsley to pull her to her feet. She took one last desperate look at the fallen man as she and Kingsley Disapparated with two pops.

* * *

It only took a minute or two for Fleur to return with a portkey for St Mungo's. When they finally stopped spinning around they were in the middle of a hospital ward and two healers were running towards them. "Let me see," said the sterner looking female healer while her male companion conjured a stretcher, she began slowly passing her wand over Remus's still form. "We need to get him up on that bed now," she said urgently. Her assistant shifted Remus on to the stretcher and up on to the bed.

"You'll need to wait outside." The male healer softly tugged Ellie away from Remus. "We've got a family room just across the hall. I'll come and get you the second there is any change in his condition." He steered the distraught Ellie towards the ward doors and out to a room on the opposite side of the corridor. In the room were several comfortable looking sofas a couple of little tables and hundreds of old copies of Witch Weekly and The Quibbler. Harry spotted his own face amongst the many others, including Gilderoy Lockhart.

Ten minutes later a different healer hurried in to the room. She was a short, stout woman with mousy brown hair and a very red face. "Which one of you is the worst?" she asked in a very soft voice. When no one was prepared to say that they were worse than any of the others she immediately reached for Ginny who still had blood trickling down her face. "Severing Charm, dear?"

"It was yes," Ginny said quietly. The healer nodded and immediately began to patch her up. It only took a minute and the slash down the side of young Ginny's face had disappeared all together and the colour was back in her cheeks. Hermione had a nasty gash in the back of her head from where she had been blasted backwards into a window sill, the healer clucked for the several minutes it took her to heal the injury and make sure Hermione wasn't suffering from a concussion. She dealt with Charlie next; he still had some nasty scars left over from the Boil Hex that had hit him in the arm. Ellie was reluctant to letthe healertouch her sore shoulder but was eventually persuaded.

"Listen here young lady, if you don't get that shoulder fixed as soon as possible then you'll probably lose the use of it. It looks like it's your wand arm, am I right?"

"Yes," Ellie replied sulkily.

"Well let me see it then!" the healer said much more firmly. Reluctantly Ellie slid forward in her seat to let the woman see it. "Oh dear, it's dislocated. Despite all the remedies available in the magical and Muggle worlds there is only one way to fix this and it's not going to be pleasant. Is this your young man?" She pointed at Charlie who nodded vigorously at her. "You might want to sit on her other side and get a good firm grip of her," she instructed. Charlie shifted from Ellie's left to her right and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly so she was pulled in close to his chest. Although this precaution worried the rest of them, Ellie looked completely unperturbed. The woman in lime green gently pulled her arm up the way and Ellie grimaced ever so slightly. She then began to move the arm up and down rhythmically until a sound, similar to that made by a plunger coming away from a sink, bounced around the room. Ellie's mouth was open in a silent scream but not one note left her mouth. The plump little woman quickly conjured a sling that she eased Ellie's arm in to. "That should do you for now; keep it in there for a day or two and I'll give you a potion to help with it. Are we all done?" she asked turning back to the group. When they all nodded she left the room to a chorus of thank you.

They sat in tense silence for a long while before anyone dared to speak. Ellie had almost curled herself in to the foetal position; she had her forehead resting on her knees and her good arm wrapped around her head protectively. Charlie was doing his very best to comfort her but it was to no avail. Harry felt numb; like he had swallowed a Freezing Solution. He remembered only too well the experience of sitting and waiting. It was only a few months ago that he and Remus had sat waiting for Ellie to come around. Yet here was Harry and Ellie a couple of months later, waiting for him to come around. He hated the way he was always the waiting and rarely the injured. He would have given anything to swap places with his former guardian. He was once again subject to an overwhelming feeling of guilt, Malfoy had wanted Ellie to choose, and she was asked to pick someone to take his place. Harry had been spared at Remus's cost and once again a member of his family was at death's door because of him. "This isn't your fault, Harry, don't blame yourself," Ellie mumbled from the depths of her hiding place. She looked up at him with eyes so piercing that had they been a sky blue colour instead of chocolaty brown, he would have been convinced that he was staring in to Dumbledore's eyes. Even the glistening golden auburn of her hair reminded Harry of the headmaster in his younger days, he had seen a younger version of Dumbledore in Tom Riddle's diary during his second year. "This was Malfoy and Voldemort. It was down to them and no one else," she said firmly. "If I catch you thinking that again I'll hex you in to the middle of next week."

"Well said," cheered Ginny with a smile.

"She's quite right," echoed Molly. "Does anyone want some tea?"

"A wonderful idea, Molly," Arthur replied. He aided his wife in the conjuring of a tea set and the room was quickly conversation. It was a good three hours before the healer returned with any news of Remus's condition.

"Mrs. Weasley?" he called.

"Yes," Molly replied.

"I'm sorry, I meant the young lady, you are Mrs. Weasley aren't you?" he asked Ellie.

"I am yes, it's just the first time that anyone has asked for me by my married name," Ellie blushed a little.

"Ah! A newlywed, my wife told me that it took her months to get used to it. You're Mr. Lupin's next of kin?"

"Yes I am."

"Would you come with me, you can see him now." Ellie followed the healer back across the hall and disappeared through the ward doors. The twenty minutes that she was gone felt like the longest minutes of his life. When she eventually returned she was in tears and Harry feared the absolute worst.

"No," he gasped. Ellie's head whipped around in shock.

"He's fine, Harry, he's going to be fine," she wailed in relief. Harry felt the muscles that he hadn't even realised were tensed, relaxing. In the moment of sheer relief he jumped from his seat and hugged Ellie for all that he was worth. When they went through to see Remus, he was sat up in bed looking extremely pale but cheerful all the same.

"You've not been crying have you, Ellie? I hate to see you crying," there was a tiny hint of scolding in his voice.

"She's just relieved," Charlie said. "We all are."

"You didn't half give us a fright," George chimed.

"Are you feeling better?" Mrs. Weasley was smoothing his sheets and straightening his pillows.

"Much better, thank you, Molly. I should be allowed home in a day or two, after I've had plenty of the Blood Replenishing Potion." He pointed to the vials of potion that were lined up neatly on the bedside cabinet. There was a sudden calamity that caused everyone to pull their wands out and point them at the ward doors. Tonks had tripped over her own feet in her rush to get to Remus. She untangled her feet and threw herself on him crying hysterically, her words unintelligible. He patted her back soothingly and muttered "There, there," through her currently long black hair. For some reason though, this didn't seem to work. In the end Ellie gently prised the young Auror from his chest and gave her a questioning look. Tonks answered by bursting in to yet more sobs and bawling incoherently, she waved her arms about wildly and screwed her face up as she continued. Although the meaning of this went beyond the comprehension of the men present, the women understood.

"Oh Tonks!" Ellie said sympathetically. "We know, we know." The other females gathered around the crying pair and wrapped their arms around them; they were all whispering and muttering comfortingly.

"Is it some kind of female bonding ritual?" George murmured to Bill.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Bill shook his head in confusion.

"Because there was no news Tonks thought Remus had died," Arthur told them authoritatively. "I've heard Molly cry like that before," his voice had a very dark quality to it.

"Of course. Is everybody else alright?" Remus quickly changed the subject away from what sounded like painful territory.

"We didn't lose anybody after your attack; everybody is as you left them." Bill was looking around for somewhere to perch, not finding anywhere he conjured himself a seat. "Do you think that they'll be like that for long?" He waggled his head in the direction of the huddle the women were forming, they were all weeping now.

"You can never tell." Arthur followed his son's example and conjured chairs for everyone else, all they did was sit and wait for the girls to sort themselves out.

* * *

The only reason that Ellie and Tonks agreed to return to the house that night was that an order meeting had been called. Once again everyone disappeared in to the kitchen for an hour and a half. When the meeting was over Ellie came up to the library to find Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione pouring over defence books. They had made a unanimous decision to look up as many curses as possible that way if another attack took place they could do some real damage.

"Well?" Harry prompted his hesitant cousin.

"Emmeline Vance died earlier this evening, Hestia is unconscious and we lost fourteen wizards and eight witches, two of which were only children," Ellie said in a dejected tone. They stared at her in disbelief; so many people had been lost in such a short space of time. Emmeline had been looking through books this morning and now she was dead. Things looked terribly bleak for wizard kind.

**A/N: The next chapter…The Safest Place.**

**Be kind – read and review!**


	13. The Safest Place

**The Safest Place: **It's time for the kids to return to the safest place they know but first Harry gets some hints from Ellie.

Remus was allowed to come home after two days in the hospital, he was moving rather gingerly but was happy to be able to leave the confines of the ward. The last two weeks of the holiday passed very peacefully with nothing of any particular note happening. In this time Remus had healed fully and was back to his old self. The near death experience had wrought about a dramatic change in Tonks; she hardly wanted to leave the house in case something happened while she was gone. Mrs. Weasley gave her a firm talking to and told her that the best thing for her to do was to go to work but this didn't stop the young woman from being late for work almost everyday for a week because she was 'seeing to Remus'. At one point Kingsley had to actually come and get her, he was forced to physically remove her from the house.

When the morning of August 31st came Harry was to be found packing his stuff in a very orderly manner. His weathered brown trunk lay open at the foot of his bed and he was collecting his belongings in to neat little piles on top of the soft covers. He now had half a dozen stacks on his bed, robes, underwear, pyjamas, books, Muggle clothes, and cloaks. He had already stowed his parchment, quills and potion's equipment, safely in the bottom of his trunk and was just beginning to match up his socks when there was a gentle knock at his bedroom door. "Come in," he answered cheerfully.

"We were wondering where you were," Ellie said as she came in to the room. "Look at you, very organised indeed."

"I thought I should, what with it being the last time I'll pack it for school."

"Aww! You're not getting a case of the last year blues are you, Harry?" she mocked.

"I think I am," he sighed dramatically as he put another pair of matched socks in to his trunk.

"I remember the feeling well," she nodded.

"I'm going to miss Hogwarts, the castle is the only place that's ever felt like home," he said thoughtfully.

"Just think, once this year is over you'll be free! No more classes, no more wearing those silly hats and boring black robes, no more Potions, and more importantly no more Snape!"

"Thank Godric! I'm not sure that I can put up with much more of him."

"All you need to do is remember to smile and let it go because that will annoy him more than anything else," she smiled jovially.

"I'll try and remember that. The thing is, it also means no Hagrid, no Quidditch, and above all else, no Ginny. I'll have to leave her behind." Ever since Ginny had pointed out that his Hogwarts letter was the last he would receive he had been thinking about things. Leaving at the end of the year would mean that he would only have a little while before she would have to go back to school and he wouldn't see her for months on end. It was a thought that depressed him thoroughly. He had visions of all these boys trying to get her to go out with them and Ginny feeling horribly lonely. He wouldn't have blamed her for wanting to get a new boyfriend; nobody wants to feel alone.

"Stop right there, Potter! Do you deliberately set out to discourage yourself?" she asked him with concern.

"Of course I don't!" he cried indignantly.

"Then you really need to start working on your way of thinking. Ok, Ginny will still be in school BUT there are Christmas and Easter holidays and on top of that there are Hogsmeade weekends. I'm sure you'll be able to drag yourself away from whatever job you get to spend a few hours with her on random Saturdays. Then there's the fact that you own an owl. All you'll have to do is write to her and it'll keep her mind off anyone else. Trust me; I know what I'm talking about on this one."

"I forgot about that." It was official; he was overreacting.

"I guessed as much. At least you'll only have to do it for one year; I had to do it for seven. You and Ginny will be fine, I have feeling," she grinned madly at him.

"Have you been having many of those?"

"A few. Good things are afoot; I know it. But back on to the subject of your new freedom, you'll be able to do what you want, when you want. No more following orders for you, I think you'll like it; I certainly did. You can get a job and maybe move in to Potter Hall and do normal things. You won't have hundreds of people milling about you all day, staring at your scar and wondering what fiasco you're going to get yourself in to next."

"You do realise I want to be an Auror, don't you?"

"I do yes, but in the Auror business your fiascos will be considered triumphs and they'll earn you respect instead of a reputation as an attention seeker. You'll bring yet more glory on the family name and I'll be very proud." Ellie held her head a little higher and puffed her chest out a little more.

"This all depends on whether I live long enough to make it as an Auror. Who knows I might die before then." He shrugged his shoulders in what he hoped was an offhand kind of way. "I haven't learned anything that's going to help me defeat Voldemort." He emphasized he point by waving his latest Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook under her nose before he dropped it in to the bottom of his trunk.

"Well that's where you're going wrong then," she said reaching over the side of the brown leather box to straighten the book in to a corner properly. "You're not going to find the answer to this riddle – if you'll excuse the terrible irony – in a book." She reached out and took the next book from him, placing it neatly on top of the other.

"Where will I find the answer?" It was more of a rhetorical question and he was surprised when she gave him a serious answer.

"The best place to look is inside yourself, Harry. The answer's already there, you just have to find it and work it out. I know you'll probably say that it sounds a lot easier than it actually is but when you find it you'll wonder why you didn't think of it sooner."

"And how long do you think that it's going to take?"

"I haven't got the foggiest. It could be tomorrow, next month or even next year but you'll get there, I know you will."

"You couldn't just tell me what it is?" He knew that this wasn't likely but it had to be worth a try, she'd given him more straight answers in the pass two minutes than her grandfather had given him in the last two years.

"I wish I could but you have to find it; this one falls entirely to you. What I can tell you is that it's something that you can't just point your finger at and go 'Oh there it is! That's what's going to help me to defeat Voldemort!' You probably won't even realise when you've found it, it won't be until you need it that you'll finally know that it's there."

"That's confusing," he said honestly.

"That's life. Thankfully once you're out of school it gets much easier," she smiled at him once again.

"I hope you're right."

"I'm always right," she replied.

"We'll see about that." He watched her leave the room with a little bit of a spring in her step and smiled. At least Ellie had faith in him.

* * *

The next morning tradition was up held. Chaos reigned down upon number 12; Ron had not partaken in Harry's organised approach to packing his things away. For this reason he was to be found rummaging through a cupboard on the third floor landing for his Quidditch uniform at twenty-five minutes past ten. His mother was raging a diatribe of chastisements and criticisms at him from the front door. They had all been ready to shuffle out on to the warm autumnal street when Ron had realised that he didn't have the essential piece of his kit. Harry and Ginny had been talking excitedly about the upcoming season, who would be on the teams this year and who would win when Ron's strangled voice was heard over the other conversations that were taking place. "My Quidditch uniform! I don't know where it is!" 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS?" Mrs.Weasley exploded.

"I didn't pack it!" Ron said in a panic.

"YOU'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES TO FIND IT RONALD WEASLEY AND IF YOU DON'T YOU'RE GOING WITHOUT IT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. As Ron's lanky legs disappeared up the staircase talk turned to how he could have forgotten something so important to him.

"It's not like Ron to forget anything Quidditch related," Harry said to Ginny as the others muttered with annoyance around them.

"Just between you and me, I think he got a bit distracted while he was packing," she whispered back to him with a cheeky grin.

"What d'you mean?"

"I'll give you a clue, she's five foot five, curly brown hair and likes to campaign for House-elf rights," his girlfriend whispered conspiratorially in his ear.

"Hermione? What's she got do with Ron forgetting his kit?"

"Let's just say that his distraction involved her engaging him in other activities that probably took his attention and certainly his hands away from the task in front of him." Ginny gave him a very amorous wink.

"Tut-tut, I would have thought that the talk with your dad would have put him off that kind of stuff for a while, it certainly did for me!"

"Are you trying to say that you don't fancy me any more?" she asked him so loudly that Bill turned round and gave Harry an iffy look.

"No, that's not what I'm saying," he pulled her in closer so he could whisper and also so she obscured his view of Bill, or rather Bill's view of him. "It's just that we were…advised to cool it off a little, for once in my life I was a good boy and did what I was told." He realised he was going to have to elaborate on what he's said because Ginny's face fell. "But the only reason I did it was because I was terrified of what your mum would do to me if I didn't, but your mum won't be at school," he said in what he hoped was a romantic voice.

"She certainly won't," Ginny said to him in such a seductive way that Harry did a brilliant impression of Ron as his eyebrows disappeared up in to his hair. "And on my rounds as a prefect last year I found some very nice broom cupboards," she added leaning in extremely close to him. This movement allowed him to catch sight of Bill who was still watching the pair carefully. Harry could feel the heat radiating from his face and urged her away from him gently; afraid of what might happen if she got any closer. Ron stomping his way back down the stairs interrupted the highly charged air between them. The youngest Weasley son only narrowly missed getting clipped round the ear by his mother.

"I've got it! Who's got the trunks?" he asked hurriedly.

"That would be me," Ellie chirped from the back of the queue. She reached in to the hot pink bag she had slung across her shoulder and began to rifle through the contents every now and then she plucked out a leathery brown Hogwarts trunk that was now the size of a lipstick. "Nope that one's GW…. HP…. RW, there you are Ron." She sat the tiny box on the hall floor and Charlie waved his wand and the trunk immediately sprang back to full size. As soon as Ron had shoved his kit in to it in a dishevelled heap the trunk was shrunk back down to lipstick size and put back in Ellie's handbag. It was only then that they actually made it out of the house. They marched through the streets of London in their Muggle clothing and no one paid them any attention. Just twenty minutes later they were rushing in to the station with ten minutes to spare, they carefully made sure that none of the surrounding Muggles noticed their large group disappearing through the wall that formed the barrier between their world and the magical one that lay beyond it.

Harry's heart leapt a little to see the steaming scarlet train that was the Hogwarts Express. For the last six years this train had been his symbol of hope, it had provided him with an escape from the Dursleys but this year was a little different. This year, instead of taking him home it was taking him away from it and for the first time ever Harry felt like he was being pulled away from where he wanted to be.

"Now I want you all to remember to be careful. Don't do anything dangerous…" Mrs. Weasley said, trying to flatten Harry's hair down. "…Behave yourselves and don't go causing any trouble."

"They'll be fine, Molly," Arthur assured her as he reached around her to give Ginny a hug. Remus, Tonks and Charlie helped them pile their entire collection of luggage and pets in to the carriage and then jumped on to the train behind the students. Charlie quickly reached his arm back out to pull Ellie on to the train as well.

"All of you take care and don't forget to write!" Molly called as the train began to chug its way out of King's Cross.

"We will," Ron yelled back.

"Bye!" The others waved to the anxious woman.

"We've popped your stuff in that compartment," Tonks pointed out helpfully as she and Ellie were tugged away by their other halves.

"I'm afraid that we have to head that way too, Harry," Hermione told him sorrowfully.

"That's ok, Neville will probably be a long in a minute," Harry replied.

"Already here!" said a jolly voice from behind him. He turned around to find Neville looking very pink in the face and sounding slightly out of puff. The reason for this was quickly established, he was pulling Susan's stuff as well as his own. Susan was already down in the front carriage with the other prefects.

"Alright there, Nev?" Harry asked as he leant forward to help the other boy with the extra trunk.

"Not bad, Harry, not bad. You?" he huffed as he and Harry pushed Susan's trunk in to the luggage rack.

"I'm doing ok. I can't believe that it's our last year though?"

"Isn't it strange, feels like just yesterday I was sitting on here for the first time." Neville patted the seat next to him with a smile.

"You couldn't keep a hold of Trevor that day," Harry laughed at the memory that felt like it had happened yesterday.

"Still can't. All up and down the train people were talking about the famous Harry Potter, you weren't what I expected." Neville said honestly.

"No? What did you expect?" Harry was genuinely intrigued.

"Someone tall and broad, someone kind of strong looking. But you weren't you were short, skinny and looked like you wouldn't say boo to a flobberworm."

"Thanks, Neville, that's just what I wanted to hear," Harry assumed a hurt tone.

"I know different now. Is the DA still going this year?"

"I dunno, it'll depend on how much homework we get. This is NEWT year after all and Hermione keeps giving us lectures on how much more difficult it's going to be.

"I do no such thing," announced the returning Head Girl.

"Congratulations, Hermione," Neville said when he spotted the shiny badge that was attached to the robes she had changed in to while she was gone.

"Did you need any help while you were getting changed?" Harry asked her.

"Why would I need help?" she asked him with a bemused expression.

"He just thought that Ron might have offered you a hand considering everything you did for him when it came to packing his trunk," Ginny answered on Harry's behalf, she came sliding in to the compartment and quickly climbed on to his lap. Hermione's face burned almost as scarlet as the train she was travelling in. Ron was next through the door but he had missed the conversation.

"Is something wrong 'Mione?" he asked her with concern.

"No, no everything's fine," she answered to her feet as she sat down on the same side as Neville.

"Where's Susan?" a confused Neville asked, he hadn't really understood the conversation he'd been privy to.

"I'm here," the red haired girl replied. She had appeared along with Luna Lovegood and the two looked as though they had just been chatting enthusiastically. "Hi, everyone," she smiled as she took a seat next to Neville.

"Hello, Harry," Luna said dreamily.

"Erm… Hi, Luna." It was quite rare for Luna actually to address him directly.

"How was your summer?"

"It was fine. How was yours?"

"Very good. My father and I went hiking in Switzerland to try and find the Schmoozel Klingmanger. It hides out in the caves of snow covered mountains," she informed them reliably.

"Only if you're a crackpot," this was the voice of Draco Malfoy, who felt that now was the time to make his presence felt. Crabbe and Goyle were naturally shadowing him.

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Neville asked him bravely.

"Shut your mouth, Longbottom. I just came in here to give Potter a warning," Draco sneered.

"What's that then?" Harry managed to shift Ginny off his lap and stood eye to eye with the Slytherin prefect.

"He's watching you," Draco replied smugly. "You won't have to wait long." His two cronies nodded arrogantly.

"I fear you are very much mistaken, Mr. Malfoy, you are the one being watched." Remus was standing in the compartment doorway looking thoroughly unimpressed with Malfoy's display of loyalty to Voldemort.

"Don't talk to me, werewolf," he said disgustedly.

"I shall talk to whoever I please. I believe that you have already been warned about the consequences of your continued threats on this particular group of students. I may no longer be your teacher but I can pass a report of your behaviour on to someone with the power to take points from you. I should imagine that Professor Snape wouldn't be particularly impressed if you had to explain to him how Slytherin managed to start the year off with minus points."

"Do you honestly think that I care what that pathetic traitor thinks of me?" Draco snapped.

"Of course I don't but imagine what your father would have to say if you were to be expelled from school. Your expulsion would impress no one, especially not Lord Voldemort," Remus continued. "Now please leave." The three seventh years made quite a show of trying to barge past Remus but the former Professor reached a hand out to gentlypush them away from him. When his hand touched Draco's shoulder the boy visibly recoiled in revulsion but he allowed himself to be steered clear of Remus none the less. "Everybody in one piece?"

"We're all okay," Hermione answered.

"I don't suppose you'll have any more trouble with him," Remus said quickly and left them to their own devices once again.

The rest of their journey passed very quietly, they had very few visitors and those that they did have only stayed for a few pleasantries before they moved on to find more people they knew. In an extraordinarily quick amount time the sky and deepened and somebody had turned the great tap in the sky on so that the Hogwarts express was now rain lashed. When they eventually pulled in to Hogsmeade station the rain was falling so hard that it was bouncing back up off the concrete, hundreds of black cloaks swarmed around the platform as student pulled up their hoods against the downpour. It was a moment or two before Harry realised that there were teachers standing at regular intervals along the platform, they were ushering the students out of the station and in to the carriages as quick as possible.

"Leave your luggage behind!" He heard Professor McGonagall shouting over the heads of the crowd. "Would all students please hurry to the carriages as quickly as possible? Prefects please show the first years the way! All of you move as quickly as you can!"

"You there, leave that owl cage, someone else will get it!" Professor Flitwick shouted as loud as he could. The student in question immediately dropped the animal they were holding. There was a rush towards the carriages as the older students began to realise that something was going on.

"First years!" Hermione began to shout. Ron, Ginny, Luna and Susan followed suit and even though Neville and Harry weren't prefects they joined in.

"First years over here!" Ron yelled, waving his arms towards a group of frightened looking children who were standing by the train.

"This way!" Hermione threw her lit wand in to the air and forged a way through the crowd towards the station exit, where the carriages were lined up. "We should probably split up so that at there's at least one person who can take care of the students in each carriage."

"Five of you over here now!" Ron shouted at the terrified group. The five nearest to him rushed forward and climbed up in to the relative safety of the coach, Ron jumped in after them and the Thestral set off a good deal quicker than was normal.

"Next five," Ginny called in a voice that was a significantly kinder. Her group rushed forward and departed.

"Another lot here please," Luna, asked politely, her voice no longer had her usual dreamy quality to it.

"And here," Susan requested.

"Over here as well," Neville added right after her.

"The rest of you can come in this one with me," Harry said authoritatively to the six remaining students. Although there wasn't actually a seat left for him, Harry climbed in behind them and stood lookout as the carriage rocked dangerously with the speed of their travel. He watched through the window as the last of the students filed out of the train station, just as the last carriage was pulling away the several figures appeared on the recently vacated platform. There was a lot of confusion amongst them as they realised that they were too late, they shot a couple of angry flashes at the disappearing coaches before shooting the Dark Mark in to the air in frustration.

"Are-are those…Death-Death Eaters?" one of Harry's young charges asked him in a shaky voice that suggested he was close to fainting.

"Yes," Harry answered shortly as he did he caught sight of the stone boars that stood on pillars on either side of the school gates. The teachers that had been on the platform were now gathered in a small group at the front gates, watching the carriages arrive very carefully. "You don't need to worry though, there's no place safer than Hogwarts," he said firmly.

"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" a young girl with chestnut hair asked him quietly. Harry nodded in response; he wasn't willing to come off his guard until they were safely in side the castle's walls.

"Cool!" breathed several of the students he was travelling with.

"You're a legend!" exclaimed the small blonde haired boy that had asked about the Death Eaters.

"Not really," Harry said exasperatedly. He was glad to finally climb down from the cramped carriage. "This way." He led them up the front steps and in to the entrance hall where McGonagall was collecting the new students together. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Susan, Luna and Neville had all ready released their students to her care.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Potter, you have earned ten points for Gryffindor," there was no smile on her face or in her voice, which surprised him. Although McGonagall wasn't prone to smiling without very good cause, she usually couldn't hide a hint of pride from her voice. Today she just looked worried. Harry nodded at her appreciatively and walked past her to join his friends.

"Gryffindor already has a hundred points and the year hasn't even started yet!" Hermione said excitedly.

"The only people without any points are the Slytherins," Ron added gleefully.

"Did anyone see what the problem was?" Neville asked as they deposited themselves in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table.

"Death Eaters arrived on the platform just as the last carriage got away," Harry replied.

"No wonder the teachers were so worried," Hermione fretted.

"They didn't get anyone, they just shot the dark mark in to the air," he attempted to calm her a little.

"But still Death Eaters on the platform, that's not good…" she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence because McGonagall marched past them with the sorting hat and stool; the long procession of little students behind her.

**A/N: Back Hogwarts, hooray! **

**The next chapter will be … The Broken Curse…hope it's with you soon!**


	14. The Broken Curse

**The Broken Curse: **There is a new sorting hat's song. Dumbledore gives the school more details about what happened at the station and a curse is broken.

Harry had never seen a group of first years look more terrified than the lot that stood at the front of the hall now and he couldn't really blame them. The happy arrival afforded to the years before them had not been extended to this fragile looking cluster. His year group had arrived at the school in a jolly mood after an uneventful trip and had been welcomed by a recital of the school song. A jingle that had not been heard since, the gloom of subsequent years had driven its jovial melody from the hearts and minds of the student body. The quiet clatter that was made when McGonagall put the stool on the floor caused a majority of the students jump, whether the sorting hat noticed or not, he couldn't really tell because it began its song all the same.

_"A thousand years have passed now,_

_Since I first sang my song,_

_Those early days have vanished,_

_But I'm still here to sing on._

_So come on up and take a seat,_

_I promise I don't bite,_

_For I'm a floppy hat dear child,_

_There's no reason here for fright._

_There are four houses from which to choose,_

_And I'll tell you where you belong,_

_So slip me snug about your ears,_

_And wait to see which table cheers._

_There's Hufflepuff in yellow and black,_

_The house of loyal fellows,_

_They're not afraid of working hard,_

_But you'll find them rather mellow._

_In bronze and blue find Ravenclaw,_

_The house of those who are clever,_

_If it's knowledge that you seek,_

_You'll find it here for you to keep._

_There's Slytherin in silver and green,_

_The house of great ambition,_

_If it's glory that you're after,_

_You're sure to find them keen._

_In gold and red find Gryffindor,_

_The house of those with courage,_

_If you've got a heart that's brave,_

_You'll be welcomed with a flourish._

_I don't like to divide you,_

_Because I feel it's wrong,_

_The battle won't be long now,_

_Unite and stand strong._

_Our bonds can make us powerful,_

_It's something you all can do,_

_Everyone join together,_

_No matter what your hue."_

"Abbott, Malcolm," Professor McGonagall called when it was finished. A small boy with sandy blonde hair looked horrified at the prospect of stepping away from the comfort and safety of the line but after a strong look from the Transfiguration teacher he bolted forwards.

"Hufflepuff," the hat called instantly. The boy rose from the seat with relief and scuttled forward to the Hufflepuff table where Hannah Abbott, who looked very proud indeed, welcomed him.

"Brother?" Ron said quietly. The others nodded their assent. The hat continued on until finally 'Zeller, Hyacinth,' was sorted in to Ravenclaw. "Goody!" Ron rubbed his hands together; Dumbledore had a habit of keeping his pre-feast speeches short.

"Good evening. First things first, I would like to give a warm welcome to our newest students and express my delight that most of our returning ones have arrived back in one piece. I would also like to give a great deal of thanks to our prefects and the sixth and seventh year students who ensured that their first year colleagues arrived here safely. Earlier today information was received about the plan for an attack on the station platform at Hogsmeade; this is why you were hurried away from the train with such haste. Thanks to the efforts of several teachers, guards that were on the train and the aforementioned students everyone had been removed from the platform by the time half a dozen of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters arrived. I'm sure all of the excitement has made you all quite hungry and this is why I shall save the rest of my speech for after dinner," Dumbledore announced in a rather victorious tone. There was relative quiet as everyone tried to come to terms with the information that they had received. The five students sitting at the Gryffindor silence were engaged in an uneasy silence, they knew only too well the kind of carnage that could have happened if the platform had been full. After dinner, when they were all feeling rather bloated, Dumbledore recommenced his speech.

"It seems to me that every year the standard of goods coming from our kitchen reaches new heights of excellence. On a more serious note I would like to assure everyone that while you are within the confines of the grounds you will be perfectly safe, the teachers and I are working continuously with the Ministry of Magic to ensure that you are all protected from the dangers of the outside world. Unfortunately due to the events of last year, when several students and a teacher were attacked, all visits to Hogsmeade will be cancelled until further notice. I realize this will thoroughly disappoint those of you able to attend them but I would rather have you safely miserable in the castle that dangerously jolly in the village," he said a fatherly tone. He was just trying to look after everyone's best interests.

"As always the Forbidden Forest is considered out of bounds to everyone and I must encourage you all not to go near it without the supervision of a member of staff. Yet more items have been added to Mr. Filch's list of prohibited objects, I was rather dismayed to read it yesterday and find that the rather delicious Canary Crèmes have been included on this year's list, as have portable swamps. I am also happy to announce that the rumoured curse that has hung over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this six years appears to have been broken, I can welcome back last years professor, albeit under a different name. I am sure that you will all join me in congratulating Professor Potter on her marriage and her subsequent name change to Professor Weasley." There was a lot of loud clapping and cheering for Ellie who was forced to stand and make a little curtsey. "You will all be glad to know that I have finished and you may now make your way to the warm and cozy beds that await you. Luck be with you!" he clapped his hands and the doors to the hall swung open and allowed them all to escape to bed.

* * *

When the timetables were handed out at the breakfast table the next morning the seventh year Gryffindors were a little bit disappointed that they had to go to Transfiguration before they could get to Defence Against the Dark Arts. It wasn't as bad as they had first imagined it to be though, because Professor McGonagall had some very interesting news for them. "Good morning, class," she announced, taking powerful strides towards the front of the room. "I would like to remind you all that while you are in your seventh and final year of your magical education with us, we will not be tolerating any substandard behaviour or quality of work. You have all managed to do sufficiently well thus far and I would hope that this will not change any in the coming months. This is by far the most important year you will spend here, the marks you get in the exams at the end of this year will determine whether or not you are able to fulfil your career prospects and I am aware that some of those expectations are high." She looked distinctly at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville when she said this. "During the course of this term you will have a series of careers interviews with the head of your house where you will be able to make the final decision. Bear in mind that the potential employers we deal with place a lot of importance on the opinions of our teachers and if you are performing sub par then we are forced to tell them so."

"We better hope the Ministry don't want Snape's opinion," Harry whispered in Ron's ear.

"Professor Snape's opinion will be very important to the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter, but I don't believe that should present you with any problems," McGonagall said sharply and gave Harry a look that made him feel very ashamed of himself. "NEWT does not stand for Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests for no reason, as I explained to you last year, the work will be hard and many of you will find yourself stretched to your limits. However, the teachers are not here simply to push you, if anyone is having any serious problems then I would suggest seeing your Head. With that warning given I would like to address the subject of this class. This year we will be looking at human transfiguration in more detail and our first order of business is finding out the animagi potential of this class." At this pronouncement excited whispering shot through the students. "Mr. Thomas and Mr. Finnigan would you please hand out the contents of the boxes on your desk." The two boys did as they were instructed and gave everybody a large piece of parchment and a shiny white quill.

"Who has the potential to be an animagus?" Professor McGonagall asked. It was no surprise that Hermione's hand was the only one in the air. "Ms. Granger?"

"Everyone does, it's just that some people don't have the determination necessary to carry out the transformation," Hermione answered knowledgably.

"Correct ten points to Gryffindor. The initial transformations can be very painful and this tends to put people off and it does of course require significant magical abilities, abilities that everyone in this class has. There is no one in this room who does not have the magical power to succeed at this task; however, I cannot determine whether you have the willpower. Now I want you all to close your eyes and think of the first animal that comes in to your mind. Focus on the image for a second. Now open your eyes again. I want you all to lick the tip of your quill.

"Yuck!" Lavender protested. "That's very unhygienic."

"Ms. Brown, these are brand new, there is nothing unhygienic about them." McGonagall reprimanded her. "Has everyone done that?" She glanced at the members of her class who were all now staring at their quills inquisitively. "Very well then, put your quills on the parchment tip down." At this the students gave her some very doubtful looks; they were clearly all wondering how the writing implements were supposed to stand on their tips unsupported. There were gasps of surprise as the white feathers poised themselves over the parchment. McGonagall smiled inwardly, she did love it when she managed to amaze a class. "I would like you all to close your eyes again and focus on the animal again. You must concentrate extremely hard; take in every detail the length of the beak or snout, the colour of the fur or scales, the height and length, the size of paws or the sharpness of the claws. Think very, very carefully. Open your eyes. If you were concentrating hard enough then you will now have a picture of the animal you were thinking of in front of you. If you were not then you will find varying degrees of a drawing or even just a feeble scribble." She smiled as many members of the class picked up their drawings to show each other.

"What d'you think?" Harry asked Hermione, Ron and Neville as he held up a very detailed drawing of his father's stag.

"Cool. What about mine?" Ron provided his for inspection. A very proud looking lion was standing in the middle of the page. It had a very big mane of messy hair.

"Looks just like you," Harry joked.

"Very funny, what's yours Hermione?" Ron inquired. She held him up a picture of the adorable little otter that was her patronus.

"Anyone noticing a pattern here?" She asked them. Sure enough when Neville showed them his parchment there was a griffin sitting in the middle of the page.

"Well spotted Ms. Granger. Those of you able to conjure patroni will almost certainly have drawn the form your patronus takes; this is because the spell takes a form that provides you with hope and strength. Now I would like those of you who don't have a defined picture to wipe the parchment and try again, I want the rest of you to follow these instructions." She waved her wand at the board and a series of complex instructions appeared on the board, she then paced between the rows giving help to those who needed it.

By the end of the lesson Harry had hoof for a hand, Ron's hair had grown in to a thick and bushy red mane, Hermione had brown fur and Neville had sprouted a tail. They were amongst the few that had actually transformed any part of themselves in to that of their animal and they could understand why. The pain of transforming was almost excruciating, it had brought tears to Harry's eyes as he felt his bones disappearing and the heavy hoof growing. They all went to Defence Against the Dark Arts with a bit of an ache. However a majority of them cheered up when they saw Ellie's smiling face at her desk. "Welcome back, Professor Weasley," Hannah Abbott said happily.

"Thank you, Ms. Abbott, it's very good to be back," Ellie replied.

"It was a close call eh, Professor?" Seamus reminded her.

"It certainly was, Seamus. I hope you don't mind me asking, Ron, but what on earth happened to your hair?" She was looking at Ron's hair oddly. His flaming red locks were a good deal thicker than normal, having not returned to normality yet.

"We've just been in Transfiguration," Hermione said helpfully.

"I see let me guess, the first lesson of the seventh year was animagi related?" Her class nodded. "And what was it you were trying to turn in to?" she directed her attention back to Ron.

"A lion." He reached in to his bag and pulled his drawing out.

"Very nice, it's given you wonderfully… voluptuous hair. What about the rest of you?" There was rustling as they all pulled their drawings out for her inspection.

"Is that dog?" she asked Dean.

"Yeah, miss," he replied proudly, glad that someone had been able to distinguish what his picture was.

"Superb," she said with a fleeting smile at Harry. "What's yours?"

"Who'd have guessed?" he grinned. She looked at his beautiful stag, shook her head and glance up toward the ceiling.

"Don't do this to me Uncle James, I couldn't cope. No Marauder behaviour," she said looking back at him.

"Yes, Professor," he replied dutifully.

"Are you an animagi?" Hermione asked.

"Perhaps," Ellie answered elusively.

"What would your form be?" Seamus asked from the seat behind Hermione.

"Now that would be telling," she said cryptically.

"What form does your patronus take?" the question came from Draco who was sulking at the back of the classroom.

"Do excuse me if I don't divulge that piece of information to you. If you had a better memory, you would remember. After all I did use the Patronus Charm during the attack on Hogsmeade." There was the tell tale coldness in her voice and the struggle to maintain her composure was evident from the look on her face. "That's enough chatter, let's get to work!" she said clapping her hands together.

**A/N: The next chapter will be Interesting Behaviours.**


	15. Interesting Behaviours

**Interesting Behaviours: **What's Snape going to be like this year? Where are those nice broom cupboards? Why is Charlie still in the castle? And what is Ron up to?

The first week of term had passed with relative peace and quiet. Harry had gone for his first potion lesson with Snape on the Wednesday morning and was actually able to enjoy his lesson. They were working on the Wolfsbane Potion, which was naturally of interest to Harry and his friends. They were extra careful when reading the instructions, chopping up the ingredients and stirring it. After a long and hot hour had passed they took their cauldrons off the heat and allowed the potion to cool. Ron and Harry were delighted when the liquid that was swirling around in their respective cauldrons was the same colour and texture as Hermione. It had to be said that she looked very relieved as well. Once the potion had cooled to room temperature, they filled a flagon each and took it to the professor's desk. He made several derogatory comments to the Ravenclaws that were in front of them but when Harry popped his glass container down on the wooden desk all the sallow man said was "Fine." He didn't say anything at all to Ron and Hermione or Dean who was behind them. As the three of them escaped the stifling heat of the dungeon the tepid air of the rest of the castle felt cool and refreshing. "What was all that about?" Ron exploded when they emerged at the top of the stairs that lead to the dungeon corridor.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked lightly.

"He means Snape didn't snipe at me once, that's not normal," Harry felt odd. Part of the fun of school was sitting at lunch or dinner having a good gripe about Snape; it was one of the student's favourite past-times.

"So?" Hermione was clearly too level-headed for Ron and Harry's train of thought.

"Maybe Ellie's had a word?" Ron suggested.

"I think he's probably had enough of Ellie's words," Harry snorted as he sat down at the Gryffindor table and pulled a plate bearing chicken sandwiches towards him.

"Too right," Ron grinned at the memory of a conversation they had overheard between the two teachers the previous year. "Not afraid to give him what for, is she?"

"Maybe she should be a little bit nicer to Professor Snape instead of encouraging you two to make fun of him," Hermione said sharply. Ron choked on his spoonful of soup.

"Did you just criticize a teacher?" He stared at her in disbelief.

"More to the point, did you just criticize Ellie?" Harry objected on his cousin's behalf.

"I'm not criticizing her, I just think that her behaviour towards him is strange," Hermione argued defensively.

"How d'you mean?" Ron asked.

"Well, she said that he owes her a debt. You'd think she'd be a little bit nicer to him because of that."

"I don't think Ellie particularly likes being in his debt." Harry had a vague recollection of hearing Ellie talk about things between her and Snape with someone but the memory was rather fuzzy.

"All the same, she should be setting a good example and showing him some respect," Hermione continued.

"I really hope that's the Head Girl's badge talking and that you're not putting down my sister-in-law 'Mione, you're going to be related to her one day." Ron stopped his spoon dead in its journey from the bowl in front of him to his mouth. Had he really just said that? Harry was gawping at him with eyes that were ready to burst out of their sockets and Hermione was just staring at him with a bit of shock seeping in to her eyes. They'd never really talked about where there relationship was going but his last comment made it quite clear that he had been thinking about it. "See that? One person gets married and it's all a bloke can think about for months. Who does Ellie think she is looking so pretty in her dress and planting ideas in people's heads?" He rose from the lunch table, red as a beetroot and took off after mumbling something about needing to get more books. He nearly knocked Ginny down in his haste.

"What's up with him?" she grumbled. "More importantly, what's up with you two?"

"Ron just said…" Hermione couldn't finish her sentence, her eyes drifted over to the door that her boyfriend had disappeared through and she too felt the need to leave the table. "I'll catch up with you later," she said as she marched away from the table.

"What did Ron say?" Ginny asked Harry, who had only just managed to pull his eyeballs back in. He relayed the previous conversation to her and she gasped when he reached the end of his tale. "He really said that?"

"Yeah, right here, in the middle of the hall!" Harry couldn't help the high-pitched tone of his voice.

"So Ellie was right," Ginny muttered more to herself than to Harry.

"Ellie was right about what?" he asked with confusion.

"She predicted that wedding bells might ring for those two, we'll have to wait and see if her other predictions were right," Ginny smiled at the plate in front of her as she remembered the day on the stairs.

"What else did she predict?" Harry was half afraid to ask and half curious about the answer and in the end his curiosity had won over.

"You'll find out when the time is right," she answered. "Now tell me, Mr. Potter, what are your plans for this evening?" she asked in a plumy voice.

"I've got an essay to do for Ellie, I mean Professor Weasley," he corrected himself because a second year student sat a couple of seats away from him was giving him a funny look. "It's on Pogrebins, but that won't take me too long, she only wants a foot and I've got a free period up next."

"Good because I have a much more interesting night planned for you, I'll see you at dinner." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before she too left the hall. Seeing him all alone Neville slid further along the bench.

"You alright there, Harry?"

"I think so," he answered with bemusement.

"Have they abandoned you?" Neville was trying not to laugh at the very baffled expression the other boy was wearing.

"Something like that. You know, Neville, I'm having the weirdest day." Harry shook his head and tried to concentrate on his lunch but he couldn't really stop his mind from wandering after a certain petite redhead.

* * *

The next time Harry saw his two best friends was at dinner. They sauntered in to the hall together with Hermione tucked securely under Ron's arm. They were laughing and grinning madly at each other. Harry had the feeling that they'd had the chance to talk about Ron's earlier declaration of his intentions and the outcome had been good. Very good judging by the glow in Hermione's cheeks and the fact that Ron's hair was messier than usual. Harry wondered if they had managed to find some nice broom cupboards on their prefect rounds in the past two years. "Alright there, mate?" Ron asked with a wide grin.

"Not as good as the two of you by the look of things. Probably has something to do with the fact that my two best friends just deserted me at lunch time," he said with his best fake 'you hurt my feelings' voice.

"You had Ginny." Although he was quite sure that Hermione was talking to him, you would never have been able to tell because she was too busy cooing over Ron.

"Unfortunately she ditched me not long after you did."

"That's a shame," Ron said without a hint of sympathy.

"Yes, we're very sorry, Harry," Hermione, said. Her voice was muffled slightly by her attempt to kiss Ron.

"Now if only I could believe that," he chuckled. Both of them grinned at him in a guilty manner. "Never mind, I had Neville for company." Ginny sidled in to the seat beside him and gave his knee a quick squeeze. The sudden, quite intimate contact caught him by surprise.

"So you two are ok now?" she said to her brother and best friend.

"We're fine," Hermione beamed.

"We can see that," she smirked when Ron popped a carrot in Hermione's mouth. The spent the rest of the meal in sociable silence. Afterwards they retired to the common room and curled up in their favourite seats by the fire. It wasn't too long before Ginny was tugging Harry away from the cozy position he had achieved and pulled him towards the stairs to the boy's dormitory.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ron had been lying asleep on the couch with Hermione curled up on top of him but was now peering at Harry and Ginny with one eye and a very accusatory tone.

"Just going to get our cloaks and go for a walk in the grounds, it's a lovely evening," Ginny said as cheerfully as possible. She was well aware that the dark and stormy sky that was visible in the window behind her was practically sticking its tongue out at her back.

"Hmm," Ron grunted and shut his eye. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and the Marauders map before they shot back down the stairs. They were half way to the portrait hole when Ron spoke again. "Decided to forgo the cloaks have we?" he said with his eyes still firmly shut and a slight grin playing at the sides of his mouth.

"Well it isn't very cold outside, so we thought we'd take our chances," Ginny said in a casual voice. Harry could see that on the hand furthest away from Ron had she had her fingers crossed.

"Right, well be careful and don't do anything I wouldn't do," Ron couldn't fight the little smile any longer.

"Does that rule anything out?" Harry laughed. He immediately regretted it because Ginny thrust a very sharp elbow in to his ribs, he suddenly felt very sorry for a certain butter dish. Ron's eyes snapped open.

"Just remember that is my little sister," he pointed a lazy finger at an unimpressed Ginny. "I know that you're my best mate, Harry, but unfortunately that doesn't go for her other four brothers. Although they like you a lot they wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you do anything you shouldn't and before you make any stupid comments about what that includes, you know fine well so watch your step and your hands." Ron's eyes drifted shut before Ginny could start a tirade. Instead she huffed and puffed and stormed out of the common room with Harry running to keep up with her.

* * *

"So where are we going?" he asked nervously. She was in a furious temper thanks to Ron.

"Just follow me," she said with forced niceness. He didn't want to argue so he did as he was told. They marched along several busy corridors; the late diners were just emptying out of the Great Hall. They found a corridor on the fourth floor that was completely empty, Ginny's strides lengthened along this passage way and Harry found himself amazed by the amount of ground her short legs could cover. There was a floor to ceiling tapestry on the wall that Ginny pulled open to reveal a rather cramped looking space that couldn't have been much more than two feet square. Harry just stared at the collection of mops and buckets wondering if she was serious. Tired of his waiting she shoved him in to the cupboard and snapped the tapestry shut behind them. This plunged the small room in to complete darkness.

"This is…cozy," he said awkwardly.

"It's not supposed to be cozy," the anger had faded away from her voice and it was once again seductive. He could feel her pressing closer to him and it took every ounce of self-control he had to keep from throwing himself at her and doing unmentionable things to her. He was surprised that his face wasn't glowing scarlet through the gloom. "Is everything all right, Harry?" her voice changed again, this time it was soft and concerned.

"Yeah…it's just… I… you…we…" he finally decided to shut up. He wasn't doing himself any favours by blundering on like that.

"Have you gone off me?"

"Definitely not," he shook his head furiously. If only she could see the mental images running though his head at this moment.

"Well why don't you show me?" she was back to seductive. She reached a tender hand around Harry's neck and pulled him towards her for a passionate kiss. He allowed her to pull him deeper in to it and found himself lost in the moment, the hands which he had rested on her waist slipped down to her bottom in his desperation to pull her closer. When he realised where his mitts were he snatched them away from her and pulled back. "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and I want you to be honest," her voice resonated firmly through the darkness.

"O…okay," he replied unsurely. He had the distinct feeling he was going to get a rollicking.

"Did I give you any sign that I was uncomfortable?" she asked.

"No," he cringed slightly.

"Right then, my next question is if I was anybody but Ron's little sister would you have pulled away like that?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly," she answered.

"Probably not," he said quietly.

"Harry, when I'm with you I'm not Ron's little sister! I'm Ginny, just Ginny," she breathed deeply. Harry suddenly felt quite daring.

"But you're not."

"Why not?" she protested.

"Because when you're with me, you're so much more than 'just Ginny'" he whispered in her ear before pressing his lips on to hers avidly.

They spent a very long time locked together in that broom cupboard and only tore themselves away from their activities when they realised that things were getting too heated. "_Lumos, _" Harry whispered quietly so that he could check the time on his watch. In the light he saw that Ginny's hair was all over the place and her face was flushed, he allowed himself a small smile.

"You look pleased with yourself," she teased.

"I don't know why, it's a quarter to midnight. I'm going to be murdered," he laughed. Somehow standing in the protective shell that was the cupboard the thought of Ginny's four older brothers killing him was quite funny.

"Aww! Don't worry, Harry, I'll protect you from the bad Weasley brothers," she mocked him.

"Good, now get under this cloak," he wrapped the material around them and allowed himself to enjoy how close Ginny was to him. She was holding the Marauder's map and examining it carefully.

"The path to the tower is clear," she informed him as they slipped out from behind the tapestry as quietly as possible.

"Keep an eye on it," he whispered as they began their way back through the maze of corridors and staircases.

"Ellie and Charlie at four o'clock," Ginny whispered and sure enough Professor Weasley and her husband came trotting up the stairs just to their right. "What's Charlie doing here?" Ginny said a little too loudly. Ellie froze. She looked directly at the spot where they were standing behind one of the school's countless suits of armour. She stared at the spot for a couple of minutes before she pointed her wand at them and called _'Ventus!' _A gust of air blew through the cloak and Harry instantly knew that she had seen their feet.

"Who's there?" she asked. Charlie had his wand out too.

"It's just us," Harry conceded, pulling the cloak off of them. He didn't have to see Ginny's face to know that she was looking horribly guilty.

"And what do you two think that you're doing out and about at this time?"Ellie demanded.

"We were…um…" Harry began.

"Exploring the castle," Ginny finished for him. Ellie broke in to a smile but Charlie was looking at Harry lethally.

"Well it's awfully late to be wandering about. I'm afraid you leave me no choice but to take ten points from Gryffindor, and give you a detention each which you will serve with me tomorrow evening after dinner," her voice was serious but a twinkle was dancing about in her eyes. "Let's get you back to the tower now," she indicated up another flight of stairs. She and Charlie followed them all the way back to the portrait of the fat lady. "No more late night wanderings or I'll have to report you to Professor McGonagall," she said with a smile.

"Just one question," Ginny ventured bravely. Ellie and Charlie turned back to face her, Charlie was still giving Harry the filthiest looks. "Why are you here?" she asked her brother.

"We've been looking for a nice broom cupboard, do you know any?" Ellie asked with the utmost seriousness.

"Us? Nah, we haven't been near a cupboard in months," Ginny grinned before she disappeared through the portrait hole. As the painting swung shut they could still hear the two on the other side.

"I hope you won't hold it against me if I kill your cousin," Charlie said angrily.

"Why?" Even through the canvas the innocence that Ellie was feigning was obvious.

"WHY?" Charlie exploded. "You know exactly what those two were up to and it wasn't exploring the castle, more likely exploring…." There was a large gulp. "…Each other."

"Are you telling me that if we'd been here together we would have behaved any differently?"

"That's not the point," Charlie claimed.

"Oh yes it is! This is just a case of your double standards!" Ellie retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that it's all right for you or one of your brothers to slip out and accost poor girls here there and everywhere, and by the way Madame Pince caught Ron and Hermione at it in the library earlier, but it's not all right for Ginny to go out and get accosted. At least you know Harry's not about to take advantage of her, not that she would let him. Your sister has got a strong mind of her own and it's about time that you started giving her credit for it. They're not stupid little children, they know what they're getting themselves in to and I don't see why we can't leave them to it!"

"For your information, all teenage boys are capable of taking advantage!"

"You never tried to take advantage of me!"

"That's because I exercised a little bit of self control!"

"What makes you think that Harry isn't doing the same?" Ellie asked. Unfortunately Charlie had no answer to this and was subjected to a gloat of victory from his wife. "My point exactly! Now we've finished the rounds and had a nice little argument can we go and make up?" A little smacking sound told them that Ellie had kissed her husband. Harry and Ginny stepped away from the portrait hole and in to the now empty common room. Harry dutifully walked Ginny to the foot of the girls' staircase.

"Well, Harry, it's been fun 'exploring' with you," she smiled and gave him a kiss. "Goodnight."

"Lots fun, we must do it again some time." He kissed her back. "Night, Gin."

He crept up the steps to his dormitory quickly and cursed the door silently when it creaked open. He changed for bed as quietly as he could and nearly fell over when Neville gave a particularly loud snore. "You're awfully late," Ron's voice sounded from behind his curtains. "I hope you didn't do anything I'd have to smack you one for."

"As if I would," Harry replied, eternally grateful that Ron couldn't see his face right now. "Besides I've already been glared at by one of your brothers tonight."

"Which one?" Ron asked with sleepy interest.

"Charlie, he's here in the castle."

"Why?"

"Ellie said they were looking for a nice broom cupboard," Harry smirked; she certainly had a sense of humour.

"Oh right. By the way, Harry, I know you would."

"Would what?"

"Do something I'd have to smack you for."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, mate," Harry grinned. Ron knew him so well.

"You're welcome. Night, Harry," Ron mumbled as the sleep finally caught up with him.

"See you in the morning." Harry snuggled under the covers. He was thoroughly pleased that Ron had not been anywhere near that tapestry, otherwise Harry would have come back black and blue for the things he did.

* * *

The next morning found Professor Weasley yawning widely at the staff breakfast table. "Late night?" Madame Pompfrey asked her with concern borne from decades in the nursing profession.

"It was indeed. I caught some students roaming the corridors on my midnight rounds and then me and Charlie had an argument that was promptly followed by frantic making up," Ellie grinned in a slightly embarrassed way. Poppy Pompfrey had been the healer on call at the time of her birth and yet here she was sharing the details of her married life with the woman who had eased her in to the world.

"I remember the first few months of my marriage, Wilfred and I used to argue terribly. I remember going to my mother once and saying that all we did was fight and she said to me 'Poppy, dear, if you never argued you'd never have a reason to reconcile.'"

"Never a truer word was spoken." Ellie agreed.

"May I ask which students you caught out of bed?"

"Certainly, it was Harry and Ginny. They had been 'exploring the castle' but I happened to know that there's a very secluded storage cupboard at the end of one of the fourth floor corridors and judging by poor Ginny's hair I'd stake my life that they were in there." She grinned down at the Gryffindor table where the two students were now wolfing down their breakfast.

"The mind boggles as to how you can know so much about this castle, considering that you never attended school here." Poppy said affectionately.

"I spent an awful lot of summers here with just Charlie for company so I know all the good hiding places," she smiled. "Please excuse me Madame Pompfrey but I should be getting back to my classroom before my group of raucous forth years come along and wreck the place." Ellie swept down from the top table to speak to Harry and Ginny. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley I would like to remind you that I'm expecting you at six thirty sharp to begin your detention," she increased her volume as Snape walked past. "Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley I understand that Madame Pince gave you two detentions yesterday as well and I'll be expecting the two of you at the same time as your friends," Ellie said in her best voice of authority.

"Yes, Miss," the four of them, chorused together. Ellie was almost out of the room when Ron shot after her.

"Professor Weasley, could I ask a favour?"

"A favour?" she repeated.

"Could I possibly do my detention tomorrow night?" he pleaded. Ellie studied him carefully before she said answered him.

"I suppose I don't need to remind you that it's a punishment and it doesn't have quite the same effect if it is arranged to suit you?"

"Of course not but there are special circumstances."

"And they would be?" she raised a single eyebrow at him and for a moment he thought he'd caught McGonagall instead. He leaned forward so that he could whisper to her in private; there was a group of third year Hufflpuffs nearby that were watching the conversation with interest. When he had finished explaining, she nodded slowly. "Ok, Mr. Weasley, tomorrow night it is. I hope it all goes well."

When Ron came back in to the hall he was immediately subjected to a torrent of questions. "What was that all about?" Harry managed to get in first.

"Nothing," Ron replied.

"It quite obviously was, what were you asking Professor Weasley?" Hermione was giving him an intense look.

"I just had a quick favour to ask."

"Like what?" Ginny prodded.

"If you must know I asked if I could swap my detention to tomorrow!" the red haired boy shouted.

"But why?" Hermione asked soothingly.

"Because I've got things that I need to do tonight."

"Surely nothing that's worth getting a lecture for?" Harry asked. He had seen the look on his cousin's face and recognised it as the one she wore when she was trying to get a point across.

"Actually it was and she said I could do it tomorrow."

"She let you off?" Ginny was affronted.

"No, I still have to do it, just tomorrow."

"I hope you realise, Ronald, just how unfair this is." Hermione slapped her fork down on the table; sending little bits of scrambled egg everywhere, and left the hall in a very large strop. Ginny wasn't far behind her.

"You not going to have a go as well?" Ron grumped.

"Nah, I just want to know what you said that got you out of it, that way I can use it," Harry grinned.

"I wish I could tell you but, well it's kind of a surprise."

"Oh! Say no more, I take it that I'll understand sometime soon?"

"Within the next month," Ron replied.

"I suppose I'll have to wait. Shall we go to charms now or give Hermione some more time to calm down?"

"We should go now, before she gets a chance to work herself up in to a storm."

"Sometimes she really reminds me of your mum," Harry said thoughtfully as they made their way to the Charms classroom.

"Harry! It's not nice to say things like that about your best mate's girlfriend!" Ron protested, with a thoroughly disgruntled expression. _Oh well, _Harry thought,_ at least now he'll probably avoid doing the stuff that got him his detention._

**A/N: That chapter seemed to take forever, thank the heavens that it's done now!**

**The next chapter is... Hermione's Surprise.**


	16. Hermione's Surprise

**Hermione's Surprise: **Ron's behaviour gets even more peculiar but the explanation is close at hand.

Their detention with Professor Weasley had gone fairly well; in fact it hadn't really been a detention at all. She had them tidy up her classroom for an hour before she and the girls sat gossiping. "What was Charlie doing here the other night?" Ginny asked her sister-in-law.

"Charlie is here every night," Ellie informed her.

"Why?" Hermione inquired.

"Because we're married, that's what married people do; they live together."

"But where?" Ginny continued the sixth degree.

"In the teachers' quarters. Only the married professors are allowed to have their spouses live in the castle. Mr. Pompfrey, Mr. Hooch, Mr. Pince, Mrs. Flitwick and Mrs. Reddo all live here with their husbands and wives."

"Why do we never see them?" Hermione asked. The news that so many more adults could live in the castle unnoticed amazed her.

"Because they all work, Mr. Pompfrey and Mr. Pince are healers in St. Mungo's. Mr. Hooch works in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, he's very important at the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters. While Mrs. Flitwick runs a shop in Diagon Alley and Mrs. Reddo works as a curse breaker at Gringotts; she tends to be away for long periods of time. Because of the work that they do, they tend to be away before breakfast and back after dinner; so no one really sees them. Mr. Hooch floos in and out, while the others take secure portkeys. I wouldn't have expected you to be surprised, Hermione; after all you're the one that's always telling the others that just because they don't see something, doesn't mean that it's not there."

"I can't help it, it's like a whole other community exists here!"

"You know better than anybody else that a lot exists in this castle that people never see, the corridors have a life of their own. But look at the time, you lot had better be getting back to the common room. Thanks for your help and don't go shouting about how easy this detention was I don't want people thinking that I'm soft!"

* * *

When they had got back to the common room Ron was nowhere to be found. They hadn't been able to find him in the common room or the boy's dormitory and Hermione suggested that he might have been on his rounds as Head Boy. Harry was dubious about this explanation, as much ashe loved Ron he had to admit that his best friend was rather lazy. He only was ever really self motivated when it came food or Quidditch, without Hermione present to nag him in to making the rounds he would have sat in front of the fire engaged in his favourite past time; sleeping. Never the less they chose not to worry about his absence too much and settled in to get some of their homework done; yet another of Hermione's suggestions. Unfortunately for Harry his girlfriend was more academic than he was and had supported this idea. It was quarter past ten when Ron eventually returned to Gryffindor tower, he looked exhausted and his cheeks were flushed red. "Where've you been?" Harry inquired. Spending several hours with Hermione and Ginny engaged in a Potions essay was not his idea of fun.

"About," he answered shortly.

"About where?" There was something in the evasiveness of Ron's answer that was making Harry suspicious.

"Here and there," Ron shrugged. He was looking at his feet and his ears were tinged with pink.

"Are you all right?" Hermionepicked upthe strain in her boyfriend's voice.

"I'm fine, why do you people ask so many questions?" he yelled. He rose from the seat he had plonked himself in moments before and stormed up the staircase to the dormitory.

* * *

By morning his mood wasn't any better. He and Harry dressed in silence, Ron didn't even snort when Harry stubbed his toe on the bedpost. The walk to breakfast was filled with awkward conversation and the meal itself was a highly uncomfortable affair. On the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts Ron charged ahead while Harry and Hermione hung back a bit to whisper their suggestions about what was wrong with him. "Do you think he's stressed about the work level?" Hermione inquired.

"Hermione it's only the second week, how could it be stress?"

"He has a lot of responsibility this year."

"I know but it's not like Ron to let it get to him, how often have you seen him get like this?"

"I know it's not like him but something must be up."

"Lets just leave it and see if he comes out of it one his own. We shouldn't crowd him." Harry knew only too well that when he was in one of his moods that the worse thing people could do was try and wiggle it out of him. Perceptive as she was, Ellie picked up on the atmosphere between the three; her attention was drawn to it when Ron started practising the Eradication Charm she was teaching them, with Neville. As the class drew to a close she addressed him.

"Ron, could I talk to you for a moment?" Ron hurried to her desk with great big strides. "Your detention will start at seven o'clock in my office, ok?"

"Yes, Miss. I wanted to talk to you about something later, will that be all right?" he almost whispered.

"Fine, I'll see you later." Harry and Hermione watched as Ron hurriedly picked up his bag and scurried off to his free period. Hermione had to go to Ancient Runes so she left it to Harry to ask Ellie if she knew what was wrong with Ron.

"Professor?" he asked politely as the last of the students left the room.

"Yes, Harry."

"Do you have any idea what's up with Ron?"

"I do yes," she replied as she pulled a heap of parchment towards her.

"What is it then?" Harry was growing a tad impatient with all the short answers he was getting.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," she eventually looked upat Harry. "But don't worry it's nothing serious. Well, it is to Ron obviously, but it'll all be sorted in a day or two and he'll be back to his old self."

"Can't you give me any clues?"

"I can ask you this, is there anything important happening next week?" she gave him a little smile as she watched his brain work.

"Erm…its Hermione's birthday on Thursday…" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Precisely," her smile widened.

"Oh right, I see what you're saying. Thank Merlin for that, we thought something really bad was going on."

"Not to worry. I'll remember to tell him how concerned you were," she said. "While you're here one your own I wanted to have a quick word with you." There was something in the way she said it that told Harry what subject she was about to broach.

"Really, what about?" He didn't really need to ask. He knew what was coming; it was going to be and awkward attempt at the birds and the bee's talk.

"Well it's about you, and Ginny I suppose." As she paused Harry made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Don't worry I'm not going to go with the Molly and Arthur approach. I just want you to know that even though I'm your cousin and I'm not male I do understand the…urges, shall we say… that you're probably having and if you need to talk about anything then I'm here and I promise not to blush like Moony," she smiled.

"Charlie really wasn't happy about me kissing Ginny was he?"

"No, but as far as he and the rest of her brothers are concerned she's still that little girl who put her elbow in the butter dish all those years ago." Harry looked at her with shock, how did she know about that? "Charlie wrote to me and told me all about it. They're not prepared to accept that she's a young woman now and that she's thinking about boys and marriage. For them accepting that Ginny's found her special person is like admitting they're not allowed to take care of her anymore and despite what they say, they love being protective older brothers, it's what they live for," Ellie smiled at him in a knowing way.

"How do you know that Ginny's found her 'special person'?" The unspoken understanding that seemed to flow between girls baffled Harry.

"A girl doesn't let just anybody mess her hair up like that," she grinned at him before making her way towards her office. Harry just marvelled, girls really were very strange.

* * *

Later when Hermione caught up with him in the common room just before dinner she subjected Harry to an intense series of questions on their way to dinner. Neither of them had seen Ron since the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"So did you speak to Professor Weasley?" Hermione was looking at a group of fourth year boys suspiciously. They were crowded around a suit of armor in an odd way.

"I did, yeah," Harry watched as one of the boys began waving his wand in an elaborate pattern.

"You five come away from there right now or I'll be handing out punishments!" Hermione called across the hallway.

"Punishments for what?" the boldest member of the group asked while his counterparts looked on sheepishly.

"For trying to enchant suits of armor, I saw that wand movement and I know what it means. Go to dinner, come on, move along." She ushered them away from the armour with some dramatic flapping movements and removed the spell from the suit, which gave a grateful sigh. "What did she say?" Hermione asked, once again turning her attention back to Harry.

"She said it was nothing to worry about," he was trying to keep the details of his chat with his cousin vague for various reasons.

"Is that all?"

"More or less, she said not to worry and he'd be back to his old self in no time."

"She didn't give you any clues as to what it is that's wrong with him?" Hermione was on the verge of panic.

"None at all."

"Oh, Harry, I think that it's to do with me!" she suddenly cried.

"What makes you think that?" Harry panicked; surely she hadn't guessed what was going on?

"He's been really off with me the last couple of days and…and he hasn't kissed me in nearly a week! I think he wants to break up with me!" She squealed, attracting the attention of a group of Slytherins who were on their way to dinner as well. Harry pulled her in to a quiet corner of the entrance hall to talk to her away from the prying eyes.

"I'm fairly certain that's not what it is 'Mione, Ron's nuts about you," he said encouragingly.

"But then why's he being so distant with me?"

"I don't know but he definitely doesn't want to break up with you," he repeated.

"Maybe he's seeing someone else? That would explain why he's out and about until strange hours and doesn't want to talk about where he's been! I'll kill her whoever she is! I bet it's Padma Patil, she's a lot keener on him since he became Quidditch captain, just wait till I get my hands on her!" Hermione stormed.

"Hermione," he said in a stern voice. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one? Ron is not seeing Padma Patil, he went with her to the Yule Ball and he hated it. In a couple of days this will all blow over and you'll realise how stupid you were to even think about that."

"You're probably right, Harry, thank you." She straightened herself up to her full height and strode back in to the crowd that was bustling through the doors to the Great Hall. Harry followed her shaking his head, he hated to see her like this and he hated himself even more for not being able to give her a straight answer. Just as they were about to settle themselves in at the table Ron appeared looking far more jovial than he had in a week.

"How are you, 'Mione, my sweet?" he asked her as he pulled her in to a very passionate kiss.

"I'm fine, you?" she asked giving Harry a questioning sideways glance.

"I'm happy as Larry," Ron chirped as he pulled Hermione in to the seat next to him. "How about you, Harry?"

"I'm ok, better now," he grinned as Ginny parked herself on the bench next to him.

"Why are you grinning like that?" she asked him guardedly.

"Because my girlfriend is quite possibly the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts," Harry shrugged his shoulders and kissed her nose tenderly.

"I'm afraid I would have to disagree with you there, mate." Ron looped his arm around Hermione's shoulders and gave them a tight squeeze.

"Have I walked in to some alternate universe? Should I come in again?" Ginny was sharing odd looks with Hermione. "What's got in to the pair of you?"

"Is it so wrong to be in love?" Ron asked with fake pain in his voice.

"What he said," Harry affirmed, shoving a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

"It's just a little bit strange," Hermione said.

"See, Harry, you try and be romantic and they throw it right back in your face. Typical!" Ron threw his hands in the air. The only problem was that his fork was in his hand and it had remnants of his last mouthful of steak pie on it, remnants that promptly landed in the lap of a Hufflepuff girl who was not impressed. "Sorry!" He called cheerfully over his shoulder.

Later that night after Ron had served his detention with Ellie; he came scuttling back in to the dormitory to whisk Hermione away. They were gone for hours and when they came back just minutes before curfew they were both looking rather flustered.

"You all right?" Harry asked with a knowing smile.

"Um…yeah," Ron said quietly but his ears spoke louder than any words could.

"Ginny, could I talk to you upstairs?" Hermione asked the carpet. Ginny naturally obliged, the two girls disappeared up the stairs and were gone quite some time.

"So…you seem better these days," Harry said casually.

"Things are going pretty well. I wanted…I think…I'm sorry for biting your nose off the other day, mate," Ron mumbled. Harry appreciated the fact that Ron sometimes found it hard to say sorry, he did too.

"That's ok, you've been trying to plan things for Hermione, I get it."

"Who told you?" Ron asked furiously.

"Ellie mentioned what was wrong with you but she didn't give me any details, just that it was to do with 'Mione's birthday," Harry said in a defensive rush.

"Oh right, sorry. I've made a few plans, I just want everything to go well," he admitted. "I think I'll go on up to bed now, I'm quite tired."

"You must be after all your strenuous activities." Harry raised his eyebrows but it was lost on Ron who just nodded and headed for the stairs. Not long after he disappeared Ginny came back down.

"Where's Ron?"

"He went up to bed already, is Hermione ok?" There was something very intriguing in Ginny's expression.

"Well," she said, giving the almost empty common room a dubious glance. She sat down in Harry's lap and began to whisper in his ear. "They nearly did it!"

"Did what?" he asked her with bemusement.

"The IT," she said shaking her head, his confused expression lead her to clarify further. "Sex, Harry." She couldn't believe how naïve Harry was sometimes.

"They WHAT?" Harry shouted, startling a fifth year who had been asleep on her Transfiguration textbook.

"They didn't," Ginny added hastily. "But from what Hermione said it was quite a close call. Do you still feel bad for what we did?" she smiled.

"How could they? And in school, what were they thinking of?" Harry blustered. He found himself feeling quite indignant and wanted to go and give Ron a good talking to, one that possibly involved cutting off certain parts of his anatomy.

"That's so cute!" Ginny gushed.

"What is?" Harry was far to annoyed to pussy foot about.

"You're doing the big brother thing!"

"I am not! I'm too reasonable to do that!" he was feeling even more incensed now.

"You are too, I can see it in your jaw, it's all set and furious," she giggled.

"They should not be doing THAT in school! And not yet!" Harry reasoned.

"I agree that school isn't exactly the ideal place but I mean if they want to that's their business." Ginny watched his face with interest.

"But they're not married!" he protested.

"You sound just like my mum; she's stuck in the middle ages too!" Ginny huffed. She scrambled out of his lap and marched up the staircase to her dormitory with a snappy "Goodnight," thrown over her shoulder. Harry went up to bed not long after her and couldn't stop himself from throwing a nasty look at Ron's snoring curtains.

* * *

For the next few days Harry was very short tempered when it came to Ron and Hermione. He barely spoke two words to Ron and would eye him angrily whenever he thought no one was looking. He was annoyed at the fact that Ginny appeared to have told Hermione about the things he had said because she kept giving him sisterly little pats on the arm and looks that blatantly said 'You're so sweet.' The closer it got to Hermione's birthday the more aggravated he became. He couldn't stop his mind wandering to what Ron had planned for the event, but he knew there was a feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that told him if he found out that Ron had taken liberties thenhe would have to punch him. He stopped right in the middle of casting a Shield Charm in Defence Against the Dark Arts one afternoon when he came across a horrific realisation. He sounded just like Charlie and Ron when they were lecturing Harry on taking the so-called liberties. Ron caught him with a Boil Hex for his trouble. After that Harry tried to not think about Ron and Hermione and directed his efforts in to repairing the damage he had done during his temper tantrum.

* * *

When Harry woke up on the Thursday morning Ron had already left the dormitory. He wasn't in the common room and didn't make it to breakfast either. But something else did make it to breakfast, an enormous bunch of roses. Instead of being all one colour there were nearly a dozen different ones, red, yellow, pink, dark pink, light pink, white, lavender, orange, coral and burgundy. A silk white ribbon tied a roll of parchment to them affectionately. Hermione tugged it away from captivity gently and began to read, her eyes welled up the further down the scroll they fell.

_"My Dearest Hermione, _

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you like your roses; each one has a special meaning._

_Yellow for our friendship that's always strong and true,_

_Light Pink for the grace in everything you do._

_Dark Pink because I'm thankful to have you in my life,_

_White because you're heavenly and I'd like you for my wife._

_Pink for the happiness that flows from me to you,_

_Lavender for the enchantment you've placed on my heart too._

_Coral for the desire that burns within my heart,_

_Burgundy for the beauty you've had from the very start._

_Orange for the enthusiasm I have about what's to come,_

_And red because I love you and I want us to be one._

_Meet me in the Entrance Hall at 6.00pm._

_All my love Ron x_

Hermione sat with her bottom jaw hanging loosely away from her upper one; she passed the letter to Ginny silently. The younger girl gasped several times before finally commenting. "Who knew that Ron could be so romantic?" The tears were even starting to gather in the corner of her eyes. Harry suddenly felt very awkward sitting with the two girls, he felt like he was invading some private girly space.

When they saw Ron in classes that day he did his best to stay away from Hermione and spoke very little. He skipped lunch and dinner and at six o'clock he was found waiting for Hermione at the castle's front doors. He took her hand in his and led her out on to the grounds, for Hermione her boyfriend's sudden romantic streak was the biggest and best birthday surprise of all.

* * *

Harry was not impressed when he caught them sneaking back through the portrait hole early the next morning. "I think you two had best explain yourselves right now," he said harshly.

"Well…we…then…and…but…" Ron babbled but before he could continue Hermione stepped in.

"In case you've forgotten, Harry, we are the Head Boy and Girl and we don't have to explain ourselves to anyone but teachers," she snapped superiorly.

"We didn't you know," Ron filled in the horrible silence.

"That's none of my business, go and get changed before anyone sees you," Harry instructed. He was beginning to sound like a typical Weasley brother again and it was bothering him. Ron had to rush off and finish his Potions essay in the library before breakfast,and since Harry didn't feel much like being left with the girls, he went with his friend. "So what did you and Hermione do last night?" Now that the girls weren't here Harry felt his sense of curiosity coming back.

"We started off with a walk around the lake and then the grounds, after that we went to the Room of Requirement for some butterbeer and we talked. In the end we curled up on a couch by the fire while I read a Muggle book that's 'Mione's favourite, we fell asleep like that." Ron had a strange look on his face.

"What did you talk about?"

"All sorts really, mostly the future and what we're going to do when all this is over. We think we might get married," there was something in the tone of Ron's voice that made Harry's heart fill with delight.

"That's great, Ron, really brilliant." Harry was so happy that his friends were planning their futures together; it meant that they believed they were going to have something to look forward to.

"D'you really think so?"

"Yeah, I can just see you and Hermione being an old married couple!" Harry laughed at the image of seventy year old Ron and Hermione bickering about the length of his beard. Strange though it was, Hermione's birthday had provided hope and joy for all and suddenly things looked so much brighter.


	17. Careers Advice

**Careers Advice: **We get a little peak in to the careers interviews that Harry, Neville, Ron and Hermione have with Professor McGonagall.

"Come in," sounded Professor McGonagall's sharp voice. Hermione pushed the door open tentatively she always found herself intimidated when the Transfiguration teacher spoke. "Ms. Granger, thank you for your prompt arrival. Please take a seat." McGonagall pushed a large pile of homework to one side and instead pulled several leaflets and a piece of parchment towards her. "Now when we conducted your careers interview two years ago you hadn't really settled on an occupation, has this changed any?" the deputy headmistress looked up from the paper she'd been reading.

"Not really, I'm still not sure," Hermione complained.

"Right, what do you feel your strongest subjects are?"

"Well, my favourites are Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes…"

"Lets start with the options that those three leave open for you. Obviously with the collection of subjects that you are taking there is the opportunity as an Auror," McGonagall suggested.

"I don't think that's what I want to do. Once everything with Voldemort is finished I'd rather do something different, I suppose that probably sounds a bit silly."

"Not at all, Ms. Granger, it sounds like a very sensible idea. Your subject combination would also allow you to pursue a career in Curse Breaking, you are well acquainted with Bill Weasley aren't you?" she asked curtly.

"Yes," Hermione blushed for no real reason. "But I don't think that Curse Breaking is for me either, I'd much rather spend my time at home," she blushed again when some of the plans she had made with Ron came back to her mind.

"I understand, there's also healing. Certainly your research skills would be a great deal of use to the Spell Damage ward at St. Mungo's," McGonagall recommended.

"That sounds good!" Hermione replied enthusiastically.

"I can provide you with more information on that." The teacher handed her a lime green leaflet. "I also understand from Professor Weasley that you would perhaps be interested in a position with the Office of House-Elf Relocation?"

"I would certainly be interested in any career where I can stop the appalling treatment of house-elves," Hermione nodded eagerly.

"Well a station within this office would certainly give you some control over where house-elves are relocated to and would also provide you with some necessary leverage to further S.P.E.W. I'm sure that the new Minister of Magic would be willing to hear the case for a new committee on the promotion of elvish welfare…"

"Really?"

"I certainly think so; Minister Bones is a firm believer in equality between all creatures."

"I think that's what I want to do. Elf welfare is something that I really care about, it would be perfect!" Hermione was thoroughly excited, this was the first time anyone had suggested to her that there could be a career in elf welfare. Although she was very dedicated to her work with S.P.E.W she had imagined that she would have to let it go while she got her career going, after all a girl has to eat but this was perfect, she could combine the two.

"Very well, I shall contact the Head of the department with your details and you can expect an owl from them in the near future."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione chirruped

"You are quite welcome, Ms. Granger."

* * *

Ron knocked on Professor McGonagall's door tentatively. He had to admit that she was really quite scary, she always sounded as though she was seconds away from telling you off. When he heard her calling 'Come in' from the other side of the door he took a deep breath and entered her office. "Good afternoon, Mr. Weasley," she said briskly.

"Afternoon, Professor," he replied.

"Sit down," she instructed. He obediently perched himself in the seat on the opposite side of her desk. "Right, when I saw you last you were considering a career in the Auror Division at the Ministry of Magic, is this still your ambition?"

"Yep, definitely."

"You are absolutely certain?"

"Positive. Let's face it, after all the stuff that Harry, Hermione and me have got up to during the last seven years there really only was one option. Although for a little while I did think about playing Quidditch professionally," he said as he eyed the gleaming Quidditch cup that was standing proudly on a shelf behind his head of house. He was so focused on the cup that he didn't see the smile of appreciation that flickered across the woman's face, she wondered if Harry realised just how lucky he was.

"Are you certain that Dark Wizard catching is where you're heart lies?"

"Yeah, I want to get rid of Voldemort and all the scum that follows him," Ron said rather viciously.

"Understandable. Although it isn't really necessary, I will pass your information on to Kingsley and he will be in contact with you. I must warn you that if you wish to be enrolled on the Auror Training Scheme you will have to make sure that you keep all your grades up and Professor Flitwick tells me that in recent weeks your Charm work hasn't been up to scratch."

"That's because I was a bit distracted but I'll be fine now!" Ron protested, he didn't want to lose his chance to fulfil his dream.

"I'm sure you will, perhaps you could ask Ms. Granger to help you catch back up."

"I'll do that," he nodded vigorously.

"In that case you may return to your free lesson, I hope you are using it wisely?"

"Me and Harry have been writing an essay for Hagrid on Murtlaps," Ron assured her. It was only a tiny white lie, they had started the essay before they got bored and moved on to a game of Exploding Snap.

"I assume you mean Professor Hagrid," she said firmly.

"Um…yeah…sorry," Ron shrugged.

"I shall see you in our lesson after lunch." As she watched him leave she shook her head with a smile. Her group of seventh years certainly were something else all together.

* * *

Neville was a good deal less nervous than Ron had been, his confidence had been boosted significantly over the last year and he was now more comfortable talking to teachers, this was owed to Professor Weasley, formerly Professor Potter, who had always treated him like and equal and had taught him that teachers were people too. As he sat down at her desk he felt a lot more comfortable with the situation than he had the last time. "Well, Mr. Longbottom, the last time we met you weren't sure what you wanted to do, have you made any decisions since then?"

"I think I want to be an Auror," he said semi confident.

"Your current grades would certainly allow you to take that path, although you would have to pass an aptitude test to make sure your Potions skills are up to scratch. Are you sure that is what you would like to do with the rest of your life?" she asked inquisitively.

"I think so, why?" He was quite confused by her tone of voice.

"I've spent a great deal of time discussing your prospects with Professor Sprout and we are both agreed that you might be better suited to something a little less violent." McGonagall was being very careful not to quash Neville's newfound confidence.

"But I want to help defeat Voldemort!" Neville objected.

"I quite understand that, Mr. Longbottom, but the Dark Lord will not be around forever. Are you sure that you would like to continue to be an Auror once the war is over?" She couldn't help feeling that Neville only wanted to take this particular route to prove something to his grandmother.

"My mum and dad were Aurors…" Neville said thoughtfully to no one in particular.

"I'm aware of that, I remember them well. But what do you want to do?"

"I'm good at Herbology…"

"Professor Sprout agrees. There is an organisation attached to St. Mungo's that is solely concerned with research in to magical plants and fungi we thought you might be interested in working there." McGonagall smiled internally as Neville's eyes lit up.

"What does it involve?"

"They breed plants and subject them to various experiments to try and establish the various qualities and healing properties, you would be able to put your Herbology studies to good use. Would you like a pamphlet to read through before you make your final decision?"

"I think so." Neville was now very confused about what he wanted to do with his life, he had always said he wanted to be an Auror because that was what his parents did but something about this research project was very appealing to him.

"I'll have to know within the week if you wish to pursue this path. Do you have any other question?"

"No, Professor."

"Well then, I'll speak to you very soon about your decision, Mr Longbottom." McGonagall dismissed him and Neville went back to his common room to think things over.

* * *

The next day it was Harry's turn to visit Professor McGonagall's office for his careers interview. "The last time we spoke you wanted to be an Auror, do you still want that?"

"Yes," Harry said confidently.

"You are aware that you'll have to undergo a stringent series of tests to ascertain your suitability for the role?"

"I am but Ell…Professor Weasley thinks that most of the DA members could walk it."

"She certainly would know," McGonagall gave him a little half smile of sorts. "You'll need to keep all your grades up and Professor Snape tells me that your Potion marks leave a lot to be desired," she gave him that stern tone she used just before telling someone off.

"Yeah, well Snape doesn't like me does he?"

"It is _Professor Snape_, Mr. Potter and his personal feelings towards you bear no influence on your grades."

"Yes they do! He sniped at me constantly last year!" Harry protested.

"And so far this year?"

"This year…he's been… different," Harry shrugged.

"In that case I would expect your grades to improve. I'd like to remind you that if you have problems with your teachers then you should let me know, I can't help if I don't know."

"I know that, but Professor Snape and I is a personal thing," Harry said defiantly. He wanted to deal with the Potions professor on his own; he didn't want anybody else to fight the battle for him. It was a battle of the wills between himself and Snape and eventually one of them would win the respect of the other.

"It is no longer a personal thing when it begins to interfere with your studies," McGonagall replied firmly. "I hope you realise that I have had more students than ever tell me that they want to be Aurors, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas all expressed the same wishes, as did all the girls. They all want to aid the fight against Voldemort; they are determined to stand by your side. You are very lucky young man, Mr. Potter.''

"Well, if it all goes wrong I'm not the only one that's going to suffer. We're going to need everyone we can get if we want to win the war." Harry felt his heart swelling with pride for his housemates.

"I think you'll find that you have a lot of support and a lot of faith behind you."

"They're a good bunch," Harry smiled.

"They certainly are, if you're certain that you want to be an Auror then I will set about passing your details on to Auror Shacklebolt."

"I'm sure. I think I'll quite enjoy working with Kingsley and Tonks."

"I daresay you will. You can return to whatever you were doing now," Professor McGonagall said.

"I was planning the Quidditch try outs with Ron, we've got to find Katie's replacement before our game with Ravenclaw. Ron's got this mad training schedule planned out, if I'm not careful he's going to try and badger me in to practicing everyday!" Harry was shocked with the intensive schedule his co-captain had planned out; he had a sneaking suspicion that his red haired friend had been getting tips from Ellie. "It's all Ellie's fault; she's been giving him ideas. I don't know how her house team coped with her; they must have had nervous breakdowns at the end of the year."

"Surely a little extra practice wouldn't go amiss?" McGonagall found Harry's concerns rather funny. She distinctly remembered having a similar conversation with his father.

"There's extra practice and then there's what Ron has planned!" Those were almost the exact words that had come out of James's mouth all those years ago. Minerva couldn't help the feeling of sadness that swam in to her heart. He had been such a talented young man and was stolen so brutally, she prayed that his son would escape such a sudden ending. "Are you alright, Professor?" he asked her with concern. Her cheeks had come over all flushed and her eyes were very watery.

"I'm fine, Mr. Potter, run along now." She gave him a very brief smile to send him on his way.

In the many years she had been teaching at Hogwarts she had of course grown attached to some of her students. It was only natural in her line of work; they arrived at the school small, timid eleven year olds and left as confident seventeen year olds. For ten months a year for seven years they lived in this castle under her watch, she had the pleasure and sometimes the pain of watching them grow, of the seeing them transform in to the person they would become. There were students who she guarded more closely than others and in these cases she often felt like a proud mother watching her children leave the nest. It had been out of necessity that she had observed James and his friends with extra care, you never knew what they would do next. Lily had been a very different case; she had been one of Minerva's favourite students. She was undeniably bright and always willing to help those who were less able.

The current batch of students were a very different kettle of fish. This group carried a heavier load than any that had gone before them yet they would not buckle. They rose to meet the challenge that was awaiting them with compelling bravery and unwavering determination. They stood shoulder to shoulder, prepared to face the oncoming battle together. Minerva was immensely proud of her students and she smiled to her empty office as she considered the fact that you-know-who might have bitten off more than he could chew.

**A/N: I know this chapter is almost irrelevant to the main plot but I thought it was a chapter thatwas worth including.**


	18. To The Quidditch Pitch

**To The Quidditch Pitch: **We find Katie's replacement and have the first Quidditch match of the season.

On the last Saturday in September the tryouts for the vacant Chaser post was held. Like the year before there was a very good turnout and the quality of the players was much improved. The decision was going to be more difficult than ever. So difficult that the team were engaged in debate for just short of three hours before they finally decided that each of them would write the names of their top five on pieces of parchment, fold them up and put them in an empty cauldron. They then asked Hermione to pick one and read out the name of the winner. "Dennis Creevey," she said in her crisp and clear voice. Colin and Ginny cheered while Harry and Ron gave each other highly doubtful looks. Dennis had flown ok but he wasn't brilliant by any means. Quidditch training began in earnest, Harry and Hermione had managed to talk Ron out of daily practices and instead convinced him to settle for a more relaxed two practices a week. The first match of the season was going to be Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw and it was traditionally a friendly game that was too close to call, it was scheduled in for the second to last Saturday in October which meant the weather was likely to be changeable.

As the days before the game flew by Ron's behaviour became very erratic and he sounded more like a Brigadier General preparing his troops for the fiercest battle of their lives. In fact at one of the practices during the last week before the game the rest of the team went on strike. It was up to Harry to play the go between. "Ron, mate, you're pushing them too hard," he said quietly.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to win!" Ron bellowed through the drizzle at him.

"We all want to win, but you're taking it too far!" Harry was about a minute away from joining the rest of the team in the dressing room.

"Look here, Harry, we're the team to beat! They're going to be all over us like Dragon Pox and we need to be ready. We're not going to win the cup if we just sit around on our backsides!"

"We won't win it if half the team are suffering from nervous breakdowns either!"

"Don't be so over dramatic, nobody's having a nervous breakdown," Ron snapped.

"I hate to break this to you but if you shout at Sloper once more he'll probably burst in to tears and tell McGonagall that he wants to leave school! You've been absolutely disgusting to him and don't even get me started on the way you're treating Ginny!" Harry yelled even louder as the weather began to change, it was almost as if the charged atmosphere between the two boys was a magnet drawing the stormy weather to them, the wind was picking up speed and the rain was coming down harder.

"She's my sister, Harry, and I'll treat her however I want!"

"Is that so? Well, she's my girlfriend and nobody is going to talk to her like that!"

"Yeah? Or else you'll what?" Ron challenged him.

"Or I'll thump you!" Harry screamed, clenching his fist and shaking it in Ron's face.

"You wouldn't dare!" Ron laughed. It was a loud, booming and altogether unnatural noise that sounded completely out of place coming from Ron's mouth.

"Oh yes I would!" With that Harry swung his arm back and allowed his fist to connect with Ron's cheek. There was surprise in the tall boy's eyes as he stumbled backwards and nearly fell over. Harry marched off the pitch, straight past his stunned teammates and back up in to the castle. He had forgotten just how muddy his feet were until he heard an angry cry from behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Filch yelled noisily.

"Going back to my tower," Harry snapped, he wasn't in the mood to endure one of the caretaker's lectures.

"You've got mud everywhere!"

"So?"

"Just you wait, Potter, you can come with me to Professor Snape's office and get your punishment from him," Filch whispered gleefully.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Mr. Filch." Harry and Filch looked around to see Ellie standing on the first floor landing looking thoroughly unimpressed. The only thing that bothered Harry was that her heated gaze was directed at him.

"Professor Weasley," Filch shrilled. "This boy dragged mud in to the castle and then gave me cheek when I confronted him, I want punishment!"

"I fully understand that but there will be no need to bother Professor Snape. Since I am already here I'll deal with this," Ellie said with irritation. She didn't like being told what to do, least of all by Argus Filch. She remembered the way he had terrorised her during the summers she had spent running in and out of the castle while her grandfather attended to business.

"I want him to clean up his mess!" Filch continued to protest.

"_Scourgify_! " Ellie said calmly. The splodges of mud that Harry had dragged through the front doors disappeared. "There we are, now, don't you have other duties to be carrying out?" she asked the caretaker frostily.

"Very well, Professor," Filch said agitatedly, he then stomped off up another staircase.

"Come with me, Harry," Ellie said as she turned and began taking the route to her office. Harry had the horrible feeling that he was in trouble. Once inside her office she directed him in to a seat and sat at her desk looking at him hard. For the first time ever, it truly hit Harry that she wasn't just his cousin, she was his teacher. "Explain yourself," she said bluntly.

"I'd been down a Quidditch practice and I forgot that I was all muddy," Harry shrugged his shoulders. Being told off by Ellie was entirely different from being told off by anyone else, it wasn't the anger in her voice that got to him; it was the disappointment.

"That doesn't explain your attitude."

"It was only Filch, nobody likes him!" he protested.

"He's still a member of staff, Harry, and he would have been well within his rights to give you a detention or take points, and after hearing the way you spoke to him I wouldn't have blamed him. So why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"I had argument with Ron," Harry said glumly. He hated the fact Ellie was disappointed with him and he was beginning to feel quite guilty about hitting his best friend.

"What about?" her tone had softened ever so slightly.

"Quidditch, the team went on strike because he's pushing too hard and then we argued, and I…I hit him," he said looking at the floor, he couldn't look her in the eye but he could feel the tirade that was coming.

"Was that really necessary? For goodness sake, Harry, he's your best friend!" She glared at him for a minute. "Right then, I'll have ten points for the way you spoke to Filch, ten more for hitting Ron and you'll serve a detention on Wednesday night."

"Come on, Ellie!" Harry argued. "That's not fair and you know it!"

"Keep going, Harry, and I'll take another ten," she said sharply. He stopped arguing promptly but couldn't stop himself from scowling at her. "Go back to Gryffindor Tower and cool off," she instructed. Harry stormed from the room in an even fowler mood than he had been in when he left the Quidditch pitch. As her office door slammed shut behind the angry teenager Ellie looked out the window at the stormy sky outside fiercely. "Stop using Harry to channel yourself, Uncle James. I don't appreciate it."

* * *

When he got to the common room Ginny was holding some kind of conference with Colin, Dennis, Andrew and Jack, Ron was nowhere in sight. "Where did you get to?" she asked him as he approached the group. "I came after you but when I got back to the castle you'd disappeared." 

"Filch caught me trampling mud through the castle and wanted to take me to Snape," he answered sourly.

"Oh, Harry, what did he say?"

"Nothing, Ell…Professor Weasley interrupted before Filch could drag me down to the dungeons."

"Phew, that's alright then," Colin let out a breath he'd been holding in.

"Not really, she took twenty points off me and I've got a detention on Wednesday night." Harry felt his anger at the injustice of it all building up again. "Where's Ron?"

"We think he's trying to drown himself in the Head's bathroom, Hermione's gone after him. Did you really have to hit him?" Ginny asked.

"I hit him for you! He was making me so angry and he didn't think I'd do it…" Harry was aware of just how pathetic his excuse was.

"So this was all about male pride?" Ginny was giving him that hard look that her mother wore before she went in to one of her fierce outbursts. "Here we were thinking that you did it to try and snap him out of his tyrannical running of this team and instead you did it because he dared you to, have you any idea how stupid you sound?" The petite red head was now out of her seat with her balled fists resting on her hips and she appeared to be swelling with rage.

"How stupid I sound? I'm not the one that lead the rest of the team to go on strike, am I?" This was the straw that broke the Thestral's back. Harry was sick of being shouted at today, none of this was his fault.

"So you think that the way Ron was treating us was alright, do you?" Ginny yelled. The whole common room had stopped the various things they had been doing to watch the fight between two of their Quidditch stars.

"Actually, no I don't but I think that deciding to strike was a complete over reaction!"

"And I suppose that you punching Ron wasn't over the top?"

"No it wasn't, he had it coming!" Harry streaked away from his girlfriend and sprinted up the stairs to his dormitory. He sat down on the edge of his bed but immediately regretted it, because the sludge that was all up the back of his Quidditch uniform smeared on to his bed covers. He cursed loudly before sweeping down to the showers where he attempted to drown himself in the steady flow of hot water.

* * *

During the next few days a frosty atmosphere settled in to Gryffindor Tower, it crackled its way in to every corner, freezing everything in its path. The main subject up for the extremely hushed discussion was the Quidditch team. As things stood the co-captains weren't talking to each other, the chasers and beaters weren't talking to the keeper and one of the chasers was declining all offers to speak to the seeker as well. All in all it made for a very tense situation. Students all through the house broke out in sympathy with the poor Head Girl who happened to be in the middle of the whole thing. Harry would only talk to Hermione and disappeared when either Ron or Ginny showed up, Ginny refused to speak to either Ron or Harry and often glared at them until they left her alone with Hermione, and Ron didn't dare come near her if Harry or Ginny were in the nearby vicinity. Just to make her life so much easier she had a handful of Head Girl duties to carry out and a healthy dollop of homework that needed doing. It was safe to say that Hermione was very close to breaking point. She had hoped that after a day or two everyone would have cooled down enough to have a chat with each other about what had gone wrong, she was mistaken. She managed to get the team sitting around one of the bigger tables in the common room, the three chasers were planted in the middle with a beater on either side of them and then half way round the table to the left was Harry, while almost opposite him was Ron. Hermione sat in between the two sullen young men who were doing their very best to avoid the incensed looks that were being thrown at them by the five people just around the table edge from them. "So…" Hermione said when it became obvious that no one was going to speak up first. "I think you all need to have a good long chat about what happened."

"There is nothing to talk about, Hermione. He…" Ginny said pointing a sharp finger at Ron. "…is a selfish pig headed twat and he…" She now made a stabbing motion at Harry. " …is a violent brute who is over concerned with his own self importance!"

"Yeah and you are a jumped up, interfering little agitator!" Ron leapt to his own defence.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You can't talk to her like that you big, lanky bully!" Harry yelled at Ron as he banged his fist down on the table.

"Excuse me but I don't need you to stick up for me, you sexist prat!" Ginny leaned over the table and pushed Harry back in to his chair.

"Well, pardon me for trying to be chivalrous! I thought girls liked it when you acted like a gentleman!" he screeched at Hermione, who was too terrified to respond.

"Not when it involves punching their brothers, they don't! And to think that I tried to make sure that the rest of them would lay off you for going out with Ginny, I wish I hadn't now!" Ron roared.

"So do I! They might have put me off her and we wouldn't be having this stupid conversation in the first place, would we?" Harry bellowed back. A deathly silence followed his words. Ron was looking at him with eyes that were wide in astonishment; Hermione was giving one of the most unforgiving stares that he had ever endured and Ginny… poor Ginny, wore an expression of world ending heartbreak. Harry knew he couldn't repair the damage he had done so he rose from his chair mournfully and left through the portrait hole in with the thought idea of drowning himself in the lake; it was all he was fit for.

* * *

"Is something the matter, Harry?" The calm and soothing voice of the Hogwarts Headmaster asked gently from the closed door of Ellie's office. Harry had been wandering aimlessly around the castle for hours it seemed, his feet kept moving but his brain didn't know where he was going.

"Everything is fine, sir," Harry replied in what he hoped was a cheerful tone; clearly it wasn't because Dumbledore continued to gaze at him intently.

"Your disagreement with Mr. Weasley persists?" He asked very astutely.

"How did you know?" Harry enquired with surprise.

"There are a great many things that I am proud of, Harry, one of them is that Elizabeth has always shared her worries with me." Dumbledore put a wrinkly but strong hand on Harry's shoulder and began to steer him in the direction of his office. "Too often parents or grandparents feel that they don't know or understand many of the things which go on in their children's lives. However, Elizabeth and I have, particularly in recent years, developed a very close relationship, which allows her to tell me almost anything and everything. There are of course a few obvious exceptions, she has Professor McGonagall for guidance in the areas where I am of no use," he smiled.

"What area could you be of no use in?" Harry speculated. Dumbledore always gave the impression that he was a kind of all seeing and all knowing man.

"Apparently I am particularly bad at unfurling the male psyche," the older man laughed gently. "I'm also told that there are things about women I could never possibly understand because of the obvious fact that I am not one of them."

"Oh," Harry said with dawning comprehension.

"But I digress, back to your quarrel with young Ronald. I assume that the two of you have not reached a compromise yet?"

"Not quite no, and now I've gone and upset Ginny too."

"It certainly sounds as though you have been busy. Acid Pops," the professor said to the gargoyles that guarded the entrance to his office. They immediately sprang apart and revealed the moving spiral staircase; Dumbledore encouraged Harry on to it before lightly leaping on to the step behind him. "I'm sure that there is nothing that a well placed box of sweets or a bunch of flowers couldn't put right."

"It'll take a lot more than sweets or flowers to sort out this mess," Harry said miserably as he flopped down in to the cozy chair that was opposite the headmasters.

"There is very little you can do in life that cannot be resolved so long as you have enough determination and compassion, nothing is unachievable."

"But the things I said, I practically told Ginny that if her brothers had got too much for me then I would have dumped her!"

"Did you mean it?"

"Of course not! I mean, I won't deny that when I started going out with her I was terrified of what the lot of them would say and do…"

"Quite understandable and most probably advisable, it doesn't hurt to be on your toes when Fred and George Weasley are about." Dumbledore smiled widely at this point, he had a great appreciation for the imagination that the twins had.

"Exactly, but I'd never have broken up with her, even if they did hex me a hundred times before breakfast. At the end of the day I love her and nothing changes that, not mad brothers, not impending doom, not anything. I just said what I did to get back at Ron and I didn't really think about what effect it would have on Ginny." The words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them, right now he needed someone to talk to and Dumbledore was here, wiling to listen and probably more capable of helping him than anyone else.

"In the heat of the moment we all say things that we regret; if I were to sulk over every insult that had been paid to me over the years then I wouldn't leave my office. If I took every invective, particularly those that Elizabeth has provided, to heart then I would never speak to her again. It is rather unfortunate that human nature leads us to hurt those close to us more often than we would like. Sometimes the many emotions that bubble within us need a release and it is those closest to us who bear the brunt, but these are the things that build friendships. In time it won't be what was said that you remember it will be how you got past it. Friends who only see you through fair-weather are not true friends, Harry, but those who take the worst that you can give them and are still prepared to standby you are the truest friends you will ever have. Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, in particular, have stood by you unfalteringly. I am sure that, even at this moment, if you were in true danger, Ronald would be quick to aid you. I'm also positive that if any harm were to befall you Ginevra would be devastated, she just needs some time to calm down."

"You don't know Ginny, she'll steam about this for weeks and then even if she does get over it she'll use it against me every time we argue!"

"While it's true that I don't know Ginny as well as you do." Dumbledore covered his mouth and gave a little cough that to Harry's ears sounded distinctly like 'fourth floor broom cupboard.' "I do know Molly very well and I'm told that from very reliable sources that the two are quite alike…"

"Understatement," Harry mumbled. Dumbledore smiled at him.

"In which case you would be surprised at how well a thorough apology and a pretty bouquet of flowers are received. I might be able to provide you with a good opportunity to make your apology," the headmaster said with a twinkle.

"Really?"

"Indeed, I had a very interesting suggestion from Elizabeth earlier with regards to Halloween. As you are now well aware that particular event has heralded particularly raucous celebrations from the Potter family and Elizabeth rather wishes to return to the golden era in which Hogwarts held a dance every year. It used to be quite fun, it was fancy dress and the costumes never ceased to amaze me." Dumbledore smiled. "Perhaps the announcement of a ball would be a good opportunity for you to make your grovelling apology to Ms. Weasley and ask her to accompany you?"

"That's not a bad idea," said Harry. He was already running speeches through his head and thinking about what he was going to dress up as.

"As for the dispute with Ronald, I'm sure that it will blow over once you reach Saturday's match.

"Hm!" Harry snorted in a slightly derisory manner. He couldn't imagine the match easing the tension between his team-mates; in fact he could see it getting worse.

* * *

By Friday night the team still weren't talking to each other. When Harry got back to the tower after dinner (where he had sat with Neville and Seamus) Hedwig was tapping at one of the tall windows. He opened it to let her in and she fluttered gracefully on to the table he'd been about to sit at. Attached to her leg was a rather tatty bit of parchment that looked as if it had been torn roughly away from the rest of the roll. When he unfolded he wasn't surprised by its rough appearance, it was a note from Ron.

_"Harry,_

_We haven't practiced so we need to meet before the match, when?_

_Ron."_

Harry pulled out a fresh bit of parchment and quickly scrawled a reply.

_"Ron,_

_It'll have to be tomorrow morning. What time d'you reckon is best?_

_Harry."_

He quickly tied this to Hedwig's leg and expected her to soar out of the open window. Instead she shot in to the air and went in to a steep dive for a chair by the fire that had its high back to him. Two seconds later she reversed the move and landed on the table in front of Harry, underneath his note was now the addition.

_"7.30 am" _

As he sat there with the parchment in one hand and his quill in the other he was overcome by the need to try and make things right so he began to write.

"_Okay. Ron, I'm really sorry about hitting you and all the things that I said the other day. Harry." _

Hedwig looked thoroughly disgruntled at being asked to deliver a letter when the recipient was less than ten feet away. The other people in the common room just looked on in amazement as the owl zoomed between the two boys. Ron's reply wasn't very comforting though.

_"Tell that to Ginny." _

His short reply annoyed Harry a little, here he was trying to be grown up and mature about things by apologising and Ron wasn't giving an inch. He huffed and pushed the parchment in to his bag. He got up from his seat to put a note up on the notice board telling the team of the change in practice and when he turned around only three of the faces in the crowded common room weren't staring at him. Suddenly very aware of how depressed he was feeling, he decided to pack his things away and go up to bed.

* * *

He hardly slept a wink and seven thirty came around far too quickly for his liking. He and Ron had got up and dressed in silence, slouched all the way to the pitch without single word and stood in absolute quiet to wait for their team. From where he was stood Harry could see the tops of the trees in the forbidden forest, he watched unseeingly as a Thestral emerged from the green, circled effortlessly for a moment and then dived back in to the gloom. He was subconsciously aware of birds singing somewhere and the sound of the lake's water lapping gently against the bank. There was a fair wind, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either, but if you stopped concentrating then it wouldn't be hard to get blown off course. Clouds were gathering over head like an oversized and greying vulture that was desperately hungry for prey, if you paused for long enough it would undoubtedly swoop down and engulf you with its misery. Five subdued figures stepped their way across the pitch and stood opposite the two seventh years to await their instructions. When he eventually grew tired of everybody just looking at each other and waiting for someone to say something, Harry cleared his throat. "Hem-Hem," he coughed. Ginny shot him a hurt look that seared its way down in to his soul. "We probably shouldn't do anything to energetic otherwise we'll wear our selves out for the match…so I suppose the best thing to do would be just to practice some throwing and stuff in the current conditions…" he said unsurely. He felt better when everyone nodded. They released the balls and began a very quiet training session. Everybody had a sudden need for formality and forced politeness.

"Mr. Sloper, would you kindly not hit bludgers in to my face," Ginny said through clenched teeth when one of Jack's cannons missed her head by about half a centimetre.

"He's just working on his accuracy, Ms. Weasley," replied Andrew. After only an hour and a half they decided to end the session, Harry was more or less panicking about the match now, it they didn't get their acts together they were going to get steamrollered.

* * *

The match was quickly turning in to an unmitigated disaster. Ravenclaw were 120 points up on Gryffindor, a figure that Harry was sure must be some kind of all time record. The team was a mess, they were throwing the quaffle so hard that it often soared through the fingers of the recipient and then they were glaring at each other for the mistake. Ginny's earlier reprimand about the accuracy of Sloper's beating had hit home, the opposition would have been more worried about getting hit by it if they had been flying over the forbidden forest, he hadn't hit a bludger in the right direction during the whole match and at one point had almost unseated Harry. Ron's keeping was the worst that Harry had ever seen it and considering how bad the freckled teenager had been when he joined the team two years ago, that was really saying something. The Slytherins had reverted back to their old version of 'Weasley is Our King' and Ron was not dealing with it well. Harry hadn't seen hide nor hair of the snitch during the entire course of the game and just to make things so much better, the wind had picked up and the rain had started. He would have called for a time out but with the mood everyone was in that would have been a pointless exercise. He just focused his mind on finding the golden ball that was fluttering around somewhere.

_'Above the Hufflepuff stands, floating right over the tall boy with blond hair, third seat from the left in the seventh row.'_ Ellie's voice whispered through his mind. Sure enough when he looked up, it was exactly where she said it was. He flattened himself against his broom and sped towards it, the new Ravenclaw seeker wasn't a patch on Cho Chang or him for that matter and was practically still down at the other end of the pitch when Harry caught the snitch.

"Harry Potter catches the snitch to secure the match for Gryffindor, 150 to 120. GRYFFINDOR WINS!" shouted Jonathan Galloway the seventh year Hufflepuff who was commentating. As the members of his house cheered loudly in the background, Harry landed on the ground softly and popped the snitch back in to its compartment in the trunk, he wasn't in the mood for celebrating and flying over the pitch in the wake of his victory. The win was hollow, Ravenclaw deserved it after all their hard work. He took one last look up at Ginny before he left the pitch and saw that she was just as happy as he was to have won. The second she raised her head Harry looked away, he didn't want to see her sad eyes and feel even guiltier than he already did. Unfortunately for him Ginny didn't see that it was guilt and convinced herself that it was arrogance.


	19. Ghoul Are You

**Ghoul Are You? **The gang still haven't made up and with the Halloween Dance to look forward to will they sort themselves out? Who's going dressed as what? And is a case of mistaken identity really grounds for breaking up?

After the game the atmosphere was very different. On one hand this was and improvement but on the other a complete deterioration. The air between Ron and Harry had been sufficiently cleared as to allow them to sit at the same table. They still had difficulty saying anything to each other and when they did it was oddly formal but at least it was a step closer than they had previously been. Hermione was feeling decidedly cheerful about this progression and was convinced that by the end of the next week they would be back to normal, however, Ginny wasn't very impressed. She had been overheard complaining to one person that she couldn't believe that Harry had forgiven Ron after the way he had treated the team and then told someone else that it was unfathomable that Ron could act like nothing had happened when Harry had said those terrible things. Even poor Hermione wasn't spared an attack. One night when the Head Girl had gone up to bed, Ginny was waiting for her in her dormitory and questioned her about how she could put up with the two of them, she then accused Hermione of settling for the easy life and not making enough of an effort to encourage Ron and Harry to apologize.

When the notice about the fancy dress Halloween Dance was put up there was a dramatic change in the atmosphere in the tower and a slight improvement on the one between the three friends. "What are you going as, Harry?" Ron suddenly asked him without the slightest hint of the formal pleasantries that they had been employing for the last few days.

"Not a clue, but Dumbledore says that the costumes are usually…interesting," Harry replied.

"I'll bet. I wonder what Hermione'll go as?" Ron's face came over all dreamy and wistful; Harry really didn't want to think about the image that must now be floating across Ron's hormonal brain.

"Maybe she'll go as a veela," Harry snorted. Ron's eyes immediately lit up, his obsession for the beautiful women that were the Bulgarian Quidditch Team's mascots, was well known. This situation was made all the more difficult by the fact that his older brother Bill was currently going out with one.

"I most certainly will not!" Hermione spat at him. Her dislike of the veelas was almost as well known as Ron's love of them. His face fell slightly when she disposed of this idea but he was quick to cover it.

"Good, who needs a veela when I've got you," Ron said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Hermione beamed at him before she strolled away to pick up her book bag, which was tucked away in the corner.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Harry asked him in amazement. Ron looked at him hard for a moment before he answered very carefully.

"You must really like Ginny if you didn't pick up on the charm coming from Fleur this summer," he said without looking Harry in the eye. "Ever since Charlie and Ellie announced their engagement Fleur's been pushing Bill to ask her to marry him, she keeps turning on that veela thing to try and catch him off guard. The only problem is that Bill seems to be immune to it and she keeps getting everyone else instead. Ellie caught Charlie seconds away from kissing Fleur four times in the first week that we were home and went ballistic; Hermione said that she had words with Fleur as well. Anyway Charlie's come up with this thing he calls 'Diversionary Tactics' and basically any time you get within five feet of Fleur or a conversation about veela arises you just talk down about them, 'Who needs a veela? There's nothing special about them,' and poof!" Ron snapped his fingers. "You're out of trouble."

"I think I need to remember that." Harry nodded.

"Remember what?" Hermione asked. She was still gazing at Ron with the utmost adoration.

"That I need to stir the Wolfsbane Potion three times instead of five…" Harry had never really been that good at making up lies on the spot, nine times out of ten he might as well have had a big flashing sign above his head that said 'LIAR' in megawatt bulbs.

"Actually you need to stir it seven times, not five." Hermione was looking at him pitifully and Harry managed to turn his huff of relief in to a groan of stupidity. He caught a glance at her and was pleased to see that she though he was a Potions dunce rather than a liar. Ron was standing behind her giving him double thumbs up and an encouraging smile.

"Yes, we know that you are the Potions Queen, Hermione, was there ever really any doubt?" Harry said quickly and with emphasized grumpiness to his voice. Ron nearly doubled up with laughter and mouthed 'Nice one!' to him over the top of Hermione's head. She was now blushing profusely and mumbling something about not quite being the Potions Queen and that she wasn't anything special. Harry and Ron just grinned at each other. Unfortunately the grinning didn't last long. Ginny had come down from the girl's dormitory and edged her way to the front of the crowd that was now gathered around the notice board.

"Doesn't it sound like fun?" asked a girl with brown hair and a pale face. Harry happened to know that she was in Ginny's year but didn't know her name.

"It does, yeah. I think I'll see if Michael Corner's free, at least he isn't petrified of what my brothers might do to him if he goes out with me," Ginny proclaimed loudly as she gave Harry a disparaging look. Everyone that was queuing up to see the notice turned around to gaze at him. He knew from the pitying look on Hermione's face that his cheekswere probably about the same shade as the ruby coloured wall behind him.

"So…breakfast sounds good…" Ron said, breaking the uneasy silence and pulling Hermione towards the portrait hole.

"Yeah," mumbled Harry as he quickly followed them. Asking Ginny to this dance was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

* * *

During the rest of the week everyone was hyperactive and every spare breath was spent talking about the Halloween Dance. Gossip reached Harry that Ginny had decided against Michael Corner and was being taken to the dance by Colin Creevey instead. He hated the whole school knowing every detail of his love life; everywhere he went whispers followed him. This wasn't really all that different from the years gone by but this time the whispers were somewhat more hurtful because they all surrounded things that Ginny had supposedly said about him, things that he wouldn't have put it past her to say during the foul mood that she was in. The problem was that whether Ginny had said these things or not he was starting to get very insecure about himself.

'She only went out with him because he's famous…"

"Reckons she felt sorry for him because he hasn't got anybody else…"

"She says he's a terrible kisser…"

What if he was a terrible kisser? He didn't have that much experience with girls, well less than Ginny had with boys. He'd only ever kissed Cho and that didn't exactly go very well, maybe he had been so bad at kissing that it had made her cry and she just didn't want to tell him that. Maybe she did feel sorry for him because he had no one else; a lot of people pitied him when it came to the absence of his parents, why should Ginny be any different? The more attention he started to pay to these rumours the worse he began to feel and when he returned to the common room late on Friday night he felt positively dizzy. "Everything okay there, Harry? You look a bit sick," Hermione asked him with concern.

"I'll be fine, I'm just tired. What time are we going down to Hogsmeade at tomorrow?" The usual visits to Hogsmeade had been cancelled due to the need for increased security but for this one day only they were going to be allowed down into the village. The day had been split in toten one hour time slots, and each year group abovethird year had been divided in to two, each group was going to have an escort made up of teachers and Aurors.

"Well, the Ravenclaw and Gryffindorthird years are due out atseven o'clock tomorrow morning, the village shops are opening up early at Dumbledore's request, but because we're the oldest we have to wait until last thing. We're going down with the Slytherins at four o'clock."

"That's just peachy, how did we get stuck with the Slytherins?" Harry asked grumpily.

"You know how few of the Slytherins are in the DA, Dumbledore feels that if there were to be a Death Eater attack then they wouldn't be able to defend themselves properly. Where as all of the Gryffindor seventh years are more than capable of taking care of themselves and others, thanks to you," Hermione added hastily.

"Yeah, well the Slytherins are the group most likely to make life difficult for us if we get attacked aren't they? They'd be to busy trying to get one over on us to fight Death Eaters."

"Harry, you really have the wrong attitude, we're supposed to be promoting house unity here!" she protested.

"No, Hermione, _you're_ the Head Girl, _you've_ got to promote house unity. I, on the other hand, am the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain and it's my duty to make sure my team realises that they can smash all the other house teams to pieces!" Harry stated.

"What an awful thing to say!" Hermione screeched with her strongest scandalized tone.

"He's been doing that a lot lately," Ginny sniped as she brushed by them and up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"How do I fix that?" Harry shouted at Ginny's retreating robes, he looked at Hermione for an answer.

"I'm not sure it can be fixed, you really hurt her with what you said," Hermione answered sympathetically.

"I didn't mean it though!" he raged.

"I know, but its difficult for Ginny, she's beginning to wonder if you still like her at all."

"Of course I still like her! Why would she think anything else? I said they 'might' have put me off her, I didn't say that they had!"

"It was more what your words implied…" she said quietly.

"I'm confused, talk to me 'Mione, tell me what I did that was so wrong!"

"Well, you basically said that you're terrified of all Ginny's brothers…"

"Not quite terrified, more extremely wary," Harry corrected her.

"Technicality, anyway you said that they might have put you off and you would have saved yourself some hassle…"

"I believe my exact words were 'a stupid conversation,'" he once again rectified.

"Promise me you won't get angry?" Hermione suddenly said doubtfully.

"I promise."

"Ginny told me about what happened in the broom cupboard on the fourth floor," she admitted.

"Which part?" Harry knew that at this very second his face was turning scarlet.

"The part where you pulled away from her, the thing is, after what you said she thinks that you don't like her anymore and haven't dumped her because you're afraid of what the boys will do to you."

"I don't want to dump her! I do still like her, 'Mione, I love her!" he whispered urgently over the table top.

"Then you better hurry up and tell her before she ends everything for good."

* * *

The next day things were very hectic in the castle, groups of students were constantly milling around the front doors to impatiently wait for their turn to visit the village. The first and second year students were scampering around throwing jealous looks at the older students, their request to attend the dance had been refused. Thankfully people were now so preoccupied with talking about what they were going to go as that they forgot to gossip about Harry. That worked well for him, he was able to wander around the castle for a whole day without hearing someone whisper his name once. At half past three the last batch of students were starting to gather in time for their outing. Draco Malfoy was stood in a corner of the Entrance Hall talking loudly to the large group of Slytherin hangers-on that were standing around him. Harry noticed that he had his arm draped around Pansy Parkinson's shoulders. "Yeah, so the junior Weaselbee says that you're a crap kisser, is that true?" he shouted over at Harry, who was stood next to Hermione, Ron and Neville.

"Not as bad as you from what I've heard!" Hermione retorted onHarry's behalf, she gave Pansy a very pointed look. Draco looked at the girl next to him and removed his arm in disgust, he immediately started chatting to another girl who had been standing to the left of him and was obviously desperate for him to talk to her. Draco said nothing else to them for the duration of their visit to the village.

When the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students had returned they were finally allowed to venture out in to the crisp, late autumn air. Waiting for them at the school gates were, Professors McGonagall, Weasley, and Hagrid. Just behind them were a line of Aurors; Tonks, Kingsley, Dawlish, two others that Harry recognised vaguely as Proudfoot and Savage and another witch that he had seen before but couldn't name. "Come along now, we haven't got all day," McGongall said with exasperation. She and Professor Weasley led the group down the hill towards the village; Hagrid was behind them with three Aurors on either side of them. Several of the Slytherin students looked slightly unnerved by the very cautious approach that was being taken to this journey. Once they were down in the village they went straight to Gladrags Wizard Wear and were allowed in to the shop five students at a time. The proprietors had shipped in a selection of outfits especially for the dance and everyone had a fair amount of fun picking out their costumes. With everyone's shopping complete they were escorted back up to the castle with guards that seemed to be extra alert. WhenHarry passed by Ellie at the school gates he heard her release a long and deep breath.

"Everything all right there, Professor Weasley?" he asked.

"It's been a long day," she huffed. With the last student safely within the confines of the school grounds she began to walk with them up to the castle. "I see that you two have made up?"

"Yeah,"Harry and Ronboth replied sheepishly.

"Good and what's this I hear that you've fallen out with Ginny?" She fixed Harry with one of those steel bending stares that she had inherited from her grandfather.

"They had a silly row but it'll all blow over, won't it, Harry?" Hermione supplied when it became obvious that Harry wasn't really sure how to answer.

"You listen here, Harry, and you too, Ron, I know Quidditch is important to both of you but it isn't the be all and end all of life. There are things that are much more important and you shouldn't let a daft game get in the way of that. Love comes first, it has to, nothing in this world matters more than loving and being loved. Once you're in love, everything else will pretty much take care of itself," she smiled.

"This comes from the girl who nearly killed herself and her fiancée, AND destroyed her broom all in the name of winning a Quidditch match," Harry said sarcastically and waved an accusatory hand over Ellie.

"Yes, but I'm the one who is happily married here, so I obviously know the value of love," she replied equally sardonically. She bade them goodbye and swept up a nearby staircase with her handful of bags.

"You know, as far as teachers go, she's pretty cool," Seamus said to Harry as he strolled alongside them.

"She really is," Harry admitted with admiration as he watched her go.

* * *

It had taken Harry, Ron and Neville a long time to decide what they were going to dress up as; in the end all three of them had made interesting choices. Neville had used every ounce of imagination he had and every spell he could think of to turn himself in to a giant Mibulus Mimbletonia. He had acquired a set of dull grey robes and a hood to match, and with the help of Hermione he had managed to attach Stinksap filled pouches to both items. He was pleased as punch when he tried it on and realised that the whole thing worked. Ron had jokingly attacked the clothes with a sharp quill and had received a face full of the smelly substance that formed its defence mechanism. As desperately as he tried to clear the stuff off the odour still hung around him and he was eventually forced to go for another shower.

Ron had had come up with a disguise that he thought was a masterstroke of genius, Harry wasn't so sure. During their perusal of Gladrags Ron had come across a set of sky blue robes that were almost identical to ones that Gilderoy Lockhart had worn during one of their second year classes. This had given Ron the brilliant idea that he should dress up as the former professor. He had also pointed out to Harry that Hermione fancied Lockhart like mad. Harry had wanted to argue that Hermione's obsession had existed a long time ago and before they had known that he was a big, fat liar, but he wasn't sure if their renewed friendship was strong enough to handle an argument yet. So Ron now stood before him no longer reeking of Stinksap, in robes that matched his eyes startlingly well and with a curly blonde wig that contradicted his freckles perched on his head. In his left hand he had a pot of Merlot's 'Pallid Phizog Paste' and his right hand was smothering the said goo over his freckles, which quickly faded and left Ron with an almost china white complexion.

It was Ron that had come up with the best suggestion for Harry's costume he had suggested a stag. Harry liked this idea much better than Neville's proposal that he goes as a Clabbert. At Gladrags Harry had picked out robes that were dazzling silver, he had also, by some bizarre coincidence managed to find a set of antlers that he had painted silver using a nifty spell that Ellie had shown him. He had then owled Fred and George for one of their Wonder Witch products, named Sparkling Speckles, on the pretence that it was for Ginny, which it wasn't. When he applied it to his face the little flecks of silver glitter had spread out across his features giving the impression that he now had silver skin.

In a feat, most probably never seen at Hogwarts before, the male students took ten times longer to get ready than the girls. This particularly dismayed Ron, Seamus and Dean because their companions had tired of waiting for them and gone on ahead. "But how will we know what they look like?" Dean asked, he was wearinga West Ham United football kit.

"You mean you don't know what Lavender looks like?" Ron chuckled.

"They're all in fancy dress! How will we know who's who?" Seamus, who was dressed as a leprechaun, interjected to stop Dean from strangling Ron.

"Let's hope that they can spot us," Neville suggested helpfully.

"That's all right for you, Nev, you're not one of the most eligible blokes in school," Ron said vainly as he straightened his robes.

"Don't worry," Harry said to the mildly offended Neville. "Neither is Ron." Dean, Neville and Seamus watched the smile slide off Ron's face and howled with laughter.

* * *

Down in the entrance hall several people were milling about, obviously waiting for their partners, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati were not amongst them. However, Susan was, she was dressed in a St. Mungo's uniform and greeted Neville very enthusiastically. His seventh year colleagues looked on in wonder; none of them knew that he had it in him!

The Great Hall was a sight to behold; it was decked out in the traditional orange and black. A mixture of carved pumpkins and black candles provided the blue and orange flames cast thatcast an eerie glow over the room. There was to be no feast at this event, instead there was a long buffet of finger foods (literally in the case of one platter). At either end of the large spread there was a barrel of mulled mead and a collection of butterbeers, both of which restocked themselves automatically. This year the stage had moved to the staff table's usual spot and there was a band in the process of setting up. They were dressed in black robes with white skeletons on the front, "Who are they?" Harry asked Seamus, who was scanning the room in search of Parvati.

"The Knee Knockers, they're not bad," the Irishman muttered in his ear before rushing towards an exotic looking woman who was sitting just to their right. A second glance revealed it to be Parvati dressed as an Indian Princess, Harry had to admit that she was very good looking.

"Where is she?" Ron yelled. "I can't see her!"

Harry shifted his gaze back to the crowd and couldn't see Hermione either. Their task was made all the more difficult because so many people's faces were obscured by their costumes. He did find Ginny though; she was standing next to the stage with…Harry! His girlfriend wore a look of intense displeasure at being seen with the fake Harry and when the figure turned around he recognized the small features of Colin Creevey. The sixth year boy had donned a messy black wig, glasses and a Gryffindor Quidditch uniform with Potter sewn on the back. When the light fell across Colin's face, Harry saw that he had even drawn a lightening bolt scar across his forehead. His eyes fell back on Ginny, who looked more beautiful than ever. She was wearing long white robes of a light and floaty fabric that swayed in a non-existent breeze. She had white feather wings slung across her shoulders and a glittering golden halo floating above her head, she looked magnificent. Her eyes met Harry's and she quickly turned away. "I'm sorry, mate, I can't see her," he said to Ron who was still frantically looking for his girlfriend. "Why don't you mingle with the crowd, that's the only way that you'll find her," he suggested.

"You'll be all right on your own?"

"I'll be fine, go and find Hermione," Harry smiled; at least Ron cared enough to ask him instead of just abandoning him. With Ron departed Harry decided he was in need of a drink, he managed to manoeuvre his way to the table past a very busy knight wearing a head to toe, chain mail suitwho had his tongue stuck down the throat of a girl in a long black ball gown and masquerade mask. The pair of them were swaying all over the place. He grabbed a goblet and began to fill it up with mead; he nearly spilled it everywhere when someone suddenly whispered in his ear.

"Hello, Harry." He turned around and came face to face with a girl who was done up as a golden phoenix.

"Is that you, Ellie?"

"It most certainly is," she grinned as she pulled her cardboard beak away from her mouth. She was wearing a large flowing dress that had gold feathers all over it. Like Ginny, she had a pair of wings although hers were the metallic colour rather than white. Her long hair was pulled in to an impossibly tight bun at the crown of her head and she had painted her face to match the rest of her. She was a vision in gold and feathers. "How's your night going?" she asked as she reached around him for a butterbeer.

"Not very well, Ron can't find Hermione, Ginny still isn't talking to me and Colin Creevey came dressed as me," he tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice but couldn't.

"First off, Hermione and Ron aren't your problem so forget about that. Secondly, you can fix the problem with Ginny if you try…"

"She won't listen to me!"

"Well make her!" Ellie said forcefully. "And as for Colin, there's definitely nothing you can do about that, besides there are other famous wizards here."

"Like who?"

"I saw Merlin ten minutes ago, he was dancing with a rather ugly cat," she laughed. She promptly stopped when Ron came jogging towards them.

"I can't find her anywhere and no-one's seen her!" he said worryingly.

"We'll soon sort this out," Ellie said firmly. She pulled her wand out and pointed it at her throat before saying '_Sonorous_.' "Would the Head Girl please report to the golden phoenix by the buffet table," she said loudly. Harry and Ron looked at her incredulously. "You two have no sense of humour!"

The girl in the black ball gown prised herself away from the knight she was still engaged in tonsil hockey with and tugged him towards the buffet. "Yes, Professor?" she inquired breathlessly.

"Hermione?" Ellie squealed. She was looking from Ron to the knight and back to the girl in front of her. Everything in the hall came to a standstill, silence fell over everything, the band, the dancers and the conversationalists, everything stopped.

"Is something wrong?" The girl lifted her mask to reveal that she was indeed Hermione.

"Who's your new friend?" Ron growled,he thrusthis chin towards the knight and his blonde wig wobbled precariously. Harry and Ellie shared a horrified glance.

"Ron?" Hermione yelped. "But…but then, who are you?" she asked the knight. He pulled his chain mail hood down to expose the steely eyes and white blond hair of Draco Malfoy.

"I can see why you stick with her Weaslebum, she's a bit over eager with her tongue, isn't she? The ugly little Mudblood reeks of desperation," he spat vindictively. Ron bellowed something at such a level that Harry didn't make out a word of it. The fake Lockhart then launched himself on the knight, kicking, punching and screaming obscenities.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Rang through the air twice. "Give me a hand, Harry," Ellie urged as she tried to pull Ron's still form away from Draco's. By this time Professor Snape had rushed forward, he levitated his pupil out of the hall before anybody could stop him. "_Finite Incanatem_!" Ellie pointed her wand at Ron. He unfroze and nearly overbalanced until Harry reached out to help him.

"How could you?" Ron whispered to Hermione in a deadly voice that was wracked with pain, before he stormed from the hall. The Head Girl collapsed in to a sobbing heap in Ellie's arms. Harry spotted Ginny's movement through the crowd and gave chase; he caught her at the foot of the main stairs.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he reached out for her arm.

"After Ron, not that it's any of your business!" she snapped.

"I want to talk to you first."

"I've got nothing to say!"

"I'll do all the talking, you just have to listen," he replied reasonably.

"I don't want to hear it. I've got better things to do!" she pulled her hand from his grasp and climbed another few stairs.

"We're going to talk now!" Harry said fiercely as he reached out and gripped her forearm firmly.

"Fine, you've got two minutes!" Ginny sniped. She alighted the staircase and shot out the castle's front doors. After a deep breath, Harry followed her.


	20. Apologies

**Apologies: **Can Harry make it up to Ginny? And is it all over for Ron and Hermione?

Ginny stomped her way across the front lawn and over to the shore of the lake. She now stood there waiting for him to catch up with her arms folded defensively across her chest and her foot tapping in irritation. He kept his distance, unsure how she would react if he got too close. "Well?" she barked at him.

"Would you please drop the attitude?" By this point in time Harry was genuinely annoyed, this row had been completely blown out of all proportion.

"I'll drop the attitude if you drop the obnoxiousness!" she retorted.

"When have you ever known me to be obnoxious?"

"Well there was… You've always thought a lot of yourself, Harry – sodding- Potter, the stupid prat – who – lived. It doesn't wash with me," she yelled spitefully across the lake.

"Good, I don't want it to." He saw her falter slightly; this effectively swallowed her whole argument. He listened closely for a second and heard her breathing calm. "Ginny, I need to apologize for what I said; I really didn't mean it the way it sounded…"

"Exactly how did you mean it?" she asked sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it at all; I just said it to annoy Ron. There's nothing that your brothers could do that would put me off you," he said softly. Sensing that it was safe to do so, he took a step closer to her.

"Maybe you wish you hadn't started seeing me at all, and then you wouldn't have to worry about them." All the anger was now gone from her voice; she spoke in a much gentler tone that was full of anguish. It worried Harry more than the wrath of her temper ever could.

"I don't. Ginny, you're one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I wouldn't give you up for anything. No one understands me the way that you do and nobody challenges me like you either. You're the world to me." He took another step closer.

"I couldn't bear living with the thought that you're only with me because you're terrified of dumping me," she said sadly.

"Well, I honestly don't think that I'll ever want to dump you but if I do, I promise I'll be straight with you, no matter what the consequences," he smiled charmingly at her.

"You make it all sound like a big joke!" she suddenly cried. "It's all right here and now, but next year everything will be different. You'll be off training to be an Auror and I'll be stuck here. You're so naïve, Harry, people here at school more or less accept you as 'just Harry' but when you get out in to the real world you'll be back to being 'The Famous Harry Potter' again. Girls will be throwing themselves at you left, right and centre. All kinds of girls, rich ones, pretty ones, smart, kind and caring girls all after you. How can I compete with that?" she looked at him for the first time in the course of their conversation and quite startlingly there was complete defeat in her eyes.

"Simple, you don't have to. The only beautiful, smart, kind and caring girl that I'm interested in is standing right in front of me." He took the final step towards her and brushed his fingers against her cheek. "Those other girls can be as pretty, clever, rich, kind and caring as they want, they don't stand a chance. I'm in love with you, Ginny," he said firmly.

"Oh, Harry!" she wailed. She threw herself against his shoulder and began to cry quietly, she was mumbling incoherently in to his robes so he could only make out bits and pieces of what she was saying like 'I thought you didn't love me' and 'I was sure it was over.' He let her tears run their course and when she was finished her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her costume.

"I'm the one who should be sorry, I started all this." He used his thumb to wipe away a tear that was making a bid for freedom down the side of her nose.

"No, I pushed the team to go o strike…"

"Let's just agree to both be sorry, eh? We both were in the wrong at some point," he reasoned. She nodded in agreement. "Ms. Weasley, could I be so bold as to ask for a kiss?" he said in a smug aristocratic voice.

"You may," she whispered. When she leaned towards him there was a terrible clanging noise. They glanced up to see their headdresses had become entangled.

"Sorry," he blushed. "My antlers appear to be interfering with your halo."

"I bet you say that to all the girls!" she giggled.

* * *

With the air between them cleared they walked back up to the castle with Ginny tucked under Harry's arm, he loved the way that she seemed to fit in to that little nook perfectly. She was just the right height to rest her head on his shoulder comfortably and he had the perfect stature to rest his chin on the top of her sweet smelling red hair. They skipped out of going back to the party in order to search for Ron, but just as they were passing the doors to the Great Hall Ellie appeared. "You two made up then," she smiled at them.

"It was just a silly argument," Ginny blushed.

"I'm glad to hear it, unfortunately there are still stormy waters ahead. I assume you were going back to Gryffindor Tower and not anywhere else?"

"That was the intention," Harry said unashamedly.

"Well, you might want to watch out, Hermione shot after Ron not long after you two disappeared. By this time their argument is probably in full swing and this isn't going to be a silly one like yours, this is serious and they're going to need all the help they can get if they're going to make it through. Be careful how you tread," she advised.

"We will," Ginny replied, once again looking quite sad. "I don't think they'll make it through this," she said to Harry as they started climbing their way to the seventh floor.

"They'll get through this, it was just a case of mistaken identity, and they'll get over it." Harry shrugged.

"So you'd be prepared to forgive and forget if I'd kissed Malfoy?"

"I'm not saying that I wouldn't be angry and hurt but I suppose in the end it wouldn't matter."

"I have to tell you that I'm eager to try out the new mature you, I'm almost certain that you'd sulk for weeks if I'd done what Hermione has. Not that I blame her, it was mistake," she added hastily.

"We'll soon see." Harry motioned to the fat lady's portrait; they had arrived there with surprising speed. Before the portrait was even open they could hear the shouting.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW?" he bellowed at Hermione as his sister and her boyfriend clambered through the portrait hole. Harry and Ginny held off to one side to avoid being caught in the middle of the row.

"I wasn't thinking, I was just caught up in the moment. It never occurred to me that the person I was kissing wasn't you!" she cried. Ron was striding back and forward in front of the fire while Hermione sat in a chair as far away from him as possible.

"BUT HOW? HE ISN'T EVEN THE SAME BUILD AS ME, HE DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ME AND I VERY MUCH DOUBT THAT HE KISSES LIKE ME!" Ron was beetroot purple in the face and was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I've already told you I wasn't thinking!" she protested.

"WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT HE WAS ME?"

"He walked up to me and took my hand, I just assumed…I never would have thought that Malfoy would try and kiss me…"

"WHY NOT? MALFOY CAN'T RESIST IT WHEN YOU DANGLE SOMETHING HE WANTS IN FRONT OF HIM, HE WAS BOUND TO MAKE A MOVE!"

"What do I have that Malfoy wants?"

"HAVEN'T YOU SEEN THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT?" He waved an angry hand over her dress and when she blushed he turned his back on her furiously. "IS THAT WHAT THIS WAS ALL ABOUT? WERE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME JEALOUS?"

"Of course I wasn't, if I was I certainly wouldn't pick Malfoy to do it!" she yelled with an expression of disgust.

"I thought everything was going so well between us?" Ron said much more quietly.

"It is, this doesn't change anything!" Hermione argued.

"IT CHANGES EVERYTHING! DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT I CAN HUG YOU KNOWING THAT HIS HANDS HAVE BEEN ALL OVER YOU? HOW CAN I KISS YOU WHEN ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS WHERE THAT SCUM'S TONGUE HAS BEEN? IT MAKES ME WANT TO PUKE!" he reverted back to his ear drum shattering screams.

"Well I'm sorry that I make you ill! Now if you don't mind I think I'll go to bed before you can insult me any more. Perhaps in the morning you'll realize that you're being irrational and maybe we can talk in a civilized manner." Hermione rose from her seat with the familiar haughty manner that she adopted when under attack.

"That's not going to happen, I'm sorry, 'Mione, but it's over," Ron said so quietly it was almost a whisper. This left her speechless; she stood there staring at him with her eyes and mouth open wide.

"Don't you think that's a bit much, mate?" Harry said tentatively.

"You'd be okay with Ginny kissing that rat bag, would you?"

"Well, no but…"

"Then don't criticize." Ron snapped.

"I'm not criticizing, I just think that you should give yourself some time to think about it," Harry was trying to reason and not get agitated.

"I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT MALFOY WITH HIS TONGUE DOWN MY GIRLFRIEND'S THROAT ANYMORE! YOU SAW THEM, THEY COUULD PROBABLY TELL US WHAT EACH OTHER HAD FOR LUNCH!" Although Harry hated to agree with Ron when he was in such a foul mood, he had to. He had squeezed past Hermione and Malfoy on the way to the buffet and it had been difficult to tell where one of them ended and the other began.

"It was just a mistake!" Ginny added her voice of reason to the battle.

"THE WORST ONE THAT IT'S POSSIBLE TO MAKE!" Ron shouted before turning his back on all three of them. "I'm sorry but I can't, I just… can't," he sighed. He looked at each of them before scampering up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Hermione burst in to tears as soon as he was out of sight, Ginny and Harry tried their best to comfort her.

"He'll come round 'Mione, he just needs some time to get over it," Harry assured her as he cradled her head against his shoulder. Ginny was on her other side holding her friend tight against her as well.

"It'll be all right, you'll see. We'll talk to him, won't we, Harry," she said confidently but her eyes were pleading with Harry to agree.

"Of course we will, one day when we're all old and wrinkly, we'll laugh about all this," Harry smiled at her.

"I think I'll go up to bed now," Hermione said quietly. "Thank you." She walked away from them desolately and left her feeling of deep despondency with them.

"I really think this is the end for them." Ginny was close to weeping too.

"How can you be so sure?"

"You know how much hatred there is between our family and the Malfoys, as far as Ron's concerned Hermione kissing Malfoy is the ultimate betrayal. No apology is going to make this better," Ginny shook her head gently, she had really hoped that Ron and Hermione would make it; they'd been getting on so well. Now everything they'd worked for over the last seven years lay in tatters at their feet.


	21. The Lions vs The Snakes

**The Lions vs. The Snakes: **It's time for the biggest Quidditch match of the season and we'll find out how our foursome are getting on.

Unfortunately the next morning Ron's mood was no better, nor was it the morning after or the morning after that. The Gryffindor Keeper was constantly sullen and hardly spoke a word to anyone, even Harry. Despite his mammoth efforts, Ron hardly spoke more than a sentence in the first three days of November. Draco's behaviour was only adding to the aggravated silence that had weaved its way around the four friends. "Judging by the things she did with her tongue I'd say she's been about a bit. The Muggles have some name for it, what is it? Oh yeah, tart," he sneered to Blaise Zabini, who was sat next to him in their usual places in the furthest back row of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry wasn't really sure why he was sneering like that; he had a black eye from one of the solid punches that Ron had managed to land before he was stunned.

"I thought that was a type of cake?" Zabini replied cluelessly.

"Exactly! It's enjoyed by EVERYONE!" Draco cackled.

"I very much doubt that anyone would enjoy kissing you, Mr. Malfoy, certainly from what I've heard, you taste decidedly like ashes," Ellie taunted from the other side of the room where she was helping Ernie MacMillan with a Smoke Spell, the wand movement was particularly intricate. "I'm taking ten points from Slytherin for your discussion of matters unrelated to the class, and a further ten for calling another student such an offensive name. If I hear you talking like that again, whether it be in my class or any other, you shall find yourself in detention for a week."

"I'm surprised that you're sticking up for her, I mean you are a Weasley now," Draco drawled.

"How observant of you, I may be a Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, but first and foremost I am a woman." Ellie strode across the classroom and leaned over Malfoy's desk menacingly. "And it is as a woman that I understand Ms. Granger's predicament, the male of the species has been deceiving us since the dawn of time and since I doubt that is likely to change in the near future I would appreciate it if you would get back to your Smoke Spell and cease the idle insinuations." Ellie smiled at Hermione in a kindly way on her way back to the front of the room. Thankfully Draco remained quiet for the rest of that lesson but he piped up again once he was within the safe confines of the Potions dungeon.

"What's the matter, Weaselbee? How come you're not sticking up for your little Mudblood wench? You've not fallen out with her, have you? Maybe you've seen the light and realized that she's just a wretched little whore who'll get off with anything in trousers?" Malfoy's howling laughter resounded around the cold, damp walls.

"That's enough, Malfoy! Who the hell do you think you are? Don't you dare talk about her like that!" Harry lunged across the table at the Slytherin but found himself being held back by Dean and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who was the sole Hufflepuff in the NEWT Potions class. Ron just sat at the desk next to him apparently engrossed in the textbook.

"What is going on here?" Snape's cold voice echoed through the dimly lit room. He was standing just by the doorway with an unfathomable look on his face. No wonder really, Draco was attempting to crouch behind his desk, while Harry was halfway across the top of his with Dean's arm slung tightly around his neck and Justin attempting to get a better grip of his torso.

"Potter was trying to attack me, sir." Draco had returned to his smug self in the presence of his head of house.

"And why was that?" Quite surprisingly Snape was giving Draco a very accusatory look.

"Because he hates me?" The teacher's stare wrong-footed Malfoy and he wasn't quite sure that things were going his way.

"Really, would you care to explain yourself, Mr. Potter?" Snape looked at him and Harry saw that for the first time ever, he was actually interested in the answer.

"He was saying disgusting things about Hermione…sir," Harry remembered his manners at the last minute. If Snape was going to be civil to him then he should at least try and be civil back.

"I see, and is Ms. Granger so incapable of defending herself that she requires you to leap across desks and resort to violence for her?" Harry couldn't tell if Snape was playing with him or being serious.

"I…well…I suppose not, sir," Harry admitted.

"Very well. Ten points from Gryffindor for your aggressive display and ten points from Slytherin for letting your mouth run away with you again," Snape said rounding on Draco once more. "I believe that Professor Weasley has already docked points from you today for you inability to keep your mouth closed and I am also informed that she threatened you with a week of detention if you didn't keep your thoughts to yourself, am I right?"

"Yes, sir," Draco replied sulkily.

"That being the case, I would suggest you see her at dinner to arrange your first punishment!" Snape snapped. From that moment on a surprisingly good Potions lesson ensued.

* * *

Ginny's success with Hermione wasn't any better than the luck Harry was having with Ron and it was hampered by the fact that the two girls were in different year groups. While Harry and Ron were forced together for practically every waking minute, Hermione found it quite easy to escape Ginny by disappearing off to class or having some Head Girl duty to perform. Hermione was equally as downtrodden as Ron, the time apart was having a terrible effect on the pair of them and the third parties that came in to contact with them. Harry and Ginny's newly re-instated relationship suffered the most because they felt horribly guilty about being a couple while their two best friends were on the verge of being torn apart forever. They didn't kiss in front of Ron or Hermione and tried to hide the fact that they were holding hands whenever they were around them. The situation was particularly hard on Ginny, while she was Hermione's best friend and understood that the seventh year had been very indecently duped, she was also Ron's little sister and could empathize with his anger. Harry felt very much the same, Hermione had made a mistake that was very easy to make when everyone was disguised, but at the same time, kissing Malfoy was still…well…kissing Malfoy.

On the upside of things the Quidditch team had reconciled their differences and things were now back on track for them, their practices in the run up to the most eagerly anticipated match of the season, were as good as any that they had ever had. Ron's new quiet approach seemed to agree with the team, Harry actually overheard Colin telling his brother that he wished Ron would shout at someone, at least then they'd know that he was still alive and kicking. Harry smiled to himself; Colin really was very perceptive. The Quidditch pitch had always been somewhat of a haven to Harry and now more than ever it served its purpose wonderfully. When he soared in to the air high above the stands he felt free of everything that threatened to suffocate him on the ground.

Ron and Hermione was just a tiny portion of everything that he had to endure, Professor McGonagall's warning that NEWT didn't stand for Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests for nothing was, in Harry's opinion, the biggest understatement of the century. Even Ellie, who had always been the most forgiving of their teachers, was cracking down on them. This week alone she had issued several pieces of homework that when combined amounted to almost fifteen feet of parchment, and that was one of the lighter subjects. McGonagall's essays on Animagi were almost as painful as the act of transformation, despite his initial enthusiasm for the craft; Harry was becoming increasingly weary of the theory element. Potions was as mind boggling as ever and with the distance that Hermione was setting herself at, he had no hope of getting her help on it.

On top of that Harry was still running the DA, the students didn't need as much guidance anymore but he still had to research spells for them to try out, another task that was increasingly difficult without Hermione's help. Just to put the icing on the cake that was Harry's life, Professor Dumbledore was calling him in at random intervals to test his Occlumency. Unsurprisingly, as of late the headmaster had been able to get access to his mind, even if it was only momentarily.

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Dumbledore had asked after he was able to break in to Harry's mind for the fifth time in a row.

"I've just been a bit stressed this week; a lot's been going on." Harry waved his hand almost in an attempt to brush his strains away.

"Of course, I heard about the situation between Ronald and Hermione, I take it things are no better?"

"No change, they just keep avoiding each other."

"It is very difficult to be in the middle when your loyalty to both is so strong, but believe that if it is meant to be, then it will be," Dumbledore said comfortingly.

"I just can't believe that they've broken up!"

"Would you not rather that they were apart and happy than together and unhappy?"

"Being apart is what's making them unhappy; I just wish they could see that."

"With the climate that we are currently living in I would imagine that it would not be too long before something happens and they begin to re-evaluate the situation. They just need time, Harry, it is the greatest healer." The older man had a knowledgeable glint in his eye.

"That's the one thing we don't have. How are things going out there?" Harry motioned in the direction of the window, where the sun was shining bright overhead. There were no visible signs of war in that little sliver of the world.

"Our progress is slow, the death toll increases each day, not by much, but by enough. Voldemort appears to be concentrating his efforts on finding a way to stop you, a small blessing but a blessing nonetheless," he answered wearily. For a moment his true age crept in to the waves of his voice and the distinct crackles created from a century of persistent battling were obvious to the naked ear.

* * *

November whizzed by in the blink of an eye and before long it was already the last week and the Gryffindor team found themselves less than seven days away from the fiercest battle of the season; Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Harry and Ron were starting to feel rather nostalgic about the whole thing; it was only the Friday before the game that they realised that it was going to be the last one they would play against their storied rivals. Part of Harry was rather glad about that, he was tired of Malfoy's endless taunting interfering with his search for the Snitch. "Just once more," Ron said quietly. The fact that the progressively taciturn boy had said something was what astounded Harry more than anything else.

"Once more what?" Harry inquired.

"All we've got to do is beat Slytherin this week and we'll have proved whose best once and for all. We'll show that smarmy little ferret what we're made of. He'll be mince meat when we're finished with him, right, Harry?" Ron made him jump by smashing his clenched fist in to the open palm of his other hand.

"Definitely, he won't know what's hit him!" Harry concurred. He was glad to see his friend finally venting some of his pent up anger. He knew Ron too well, after six years he would have been a pretty appalling friend if he didn't, he knew that there was a torrent of rage bubbling just under the surface of the befreckled boy's tranquil demeanour.

"Quidditch team to bed!" Ron shouted over the noisy crowd that were in the common room, excitement was at an all time high for this match. This years batch of seventh years were bigger fans of the team than any that had gone before them, perhaps this was because they had two colleagues on the team, perhaps it was because one of them was the Head Boy or maybe it was simply because their star seeker, who had only ever lost them one match, was the Boy-Who-Lived. For once Harry didn't really care if that was the reason, all that matter was that their passion for the game and their team was awe-inspiring. A loud roar of cheering followed the team up to their beds and was still hovering around the next morning when they got up.

The scene in the Great Hall was quite spectacular. Three quarters of the breakfast attendees were kitted out in scarlet and gold. In a scene scarily reminiscent of the year before, Ellie was standing proudly at the Gryffindor table wearing a huge selection of badges down the front of her robes like buttons. Harry noticed that the top two were 'Go Gryffindor!' and 'Lions to Lead!' It wasn't long before she had three of the school's houses singing the Gryffindor house song that she had written. The noise was deafening and it certainly didn't sound like they had practiced any harmonizing. They began to sing, if you could call it that, when the team left for the dressing rooms as well, Harry and Ron laughed as they passed the Slytherin table, the whole house was engaged in a group strop.

"So this is the big one," Harry said as he strode purposefully between the benches in the dressing room. "I don't care if we lose our last game this year, I don't even care if we lose the Quidditch Cup, we need to win this game. We've got to, the Slytherins have been running around all week insulting our house and the people in it." Harry gave Ron a pointed glance from which Ron looked away. "We've got to show them just how much better we are than them; we're not going to sink to their level. We've got more talent in our little fingers than they've got in their whole team, we don't need to resort to dirty tricks. We're better than that!" Harry exclaimed in a sudden fit of impetus.

"He's right!" Ron announced adamantly as he joined Harry mid stride. "They think they're all that and they're not. We're going to prove that once and for all, we're going to beat them, then we're going to beat Hufflepuff and the Quidditch Cup is ours! We've beaten them before and we can do it again! Let's beat the snot out of 'em!" The red-haired boy demanded and threw his fist through the air to mime a vicious looking punch. The rest of the team whooped with him and then they marched out on the pitch to face their enemy.

* * *

Harry doubted if a single game of his Quidditch career had ever gone better. The Gryffindor team were little more than crimson blurs as they zoomed from one end of the pitch to the other, they didn't stand still long enough for Crabbe or Goyle to aim a nasty Bludger at them and they shuffled the Quaffle between them too often for their opposition to mount any effective double teams. By the end of the first half hour Gryffindor was seventy points up and by the end of the first hour they were a hundred and twenty to nil. Somebody had dug up all the old support banners from the seasons gone by and when Harry saw the 'Potter for President' banner his heart leapt a little higher, that same placard had boosted his moral during his Quidditch debut all those years ago. Suddenly the rainy and blustery November afternoon looked so much brighter. Almost like it was glinting gold. No, it WAS glinting gold. The Snitch was fluttering around aimlessly about three feet in front of a Ravenclaw first year, Harry flattened himself as close to his broom handle as possible, willing himself and the wood to be one. He chanced a look over his shoulder to see what Draco was doing, the blonde fool was hovering at the other side of the pitch shaking his head at Harry. He grinned; the stupid bloody ferret thought that he was feinting. Harry came within an inch of crashing straight in to the horrified first year before he pulled his broom sharply backwards in to a roll and plucked the Snitch from the air effortlessly.

With a final score of two hundred and seventy to nil, they didn't even need to show up to the final match of the season and the cup was theirs.


	22. Moving On

**Moving On: **There's lots of movement happening here, from what Ron's getting up to, the journey on the Hogwarts Express and the request that Harry makes of Professor Dumbledore.

And so the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry soldiered on in to December. Blasts of ice cold air blazed through the castle unperturbed by the warm fires that were lit to ward them off, gloves were now a compulsory item of clothing for Potions lessons, the dungeons were so cold that Harry was beginning to get a fair idea of what it was like to live in an igloo. Nearly a foot of snow coated the vast castle grounds and Hagrid could be found digging a path from his cabin to the castle each morning so that students could attend his lessons, but as the month wore on the freezing snowstorms set in, which put paid to outdoor lessons and Quidditch practices.

The run up to Christmas was much pleasanter this year, the school wasn't dogged by the atmosphere of terror and death that had seared it's way through the student body last year. In fact, the festive season brought very little Death Eater activity, there was the mention of the odd death in the Daily Prophet but nine times out of ten nobody had any ever heard of the deceased. The Ministry was quick to put this down to their effective campaign for vigilance in the magical community but no matter how much Harry liked Amelia Bones, he didn't not believe that the Ministry's 'How to…' leaflets were helpful at all and very much doubted they had contributed to fall in deaths. Unfortunately, he felt that there was a much more perverse reason for it. Voldemort was up to something once again; he could feel it prickling away under his scar.

Although people all around the castle were breathing slightly easier, Harry and Ginny were not. The situation between Ron and Hermione persisted with neither of them making any effort to reconcile things. Ron had gradually come back out of his shell and was beginning to act more like his old self, although this was a bit difficult because his old self had spent a majority of his time bickering with Hermione, and in her absence he found himself extremely bored. To compensate he started hanging out with Dean and Seamus more, Harry was actually beginning to wonder if the three of them were joined at the hip. Thankfully Ron had assured him that the only reason he was spending time with Dean and Seamus was so that Harry didn't feel forced to choose between his two best friends. Harry had considered this and found it to be an altogether mature way to approach things; he just couldn't understand why Ron didn't apply this newfound maturity to repairing his relationship with his girlfriend.

Hermione's reaction was completely the opposite from Ron's; she was steadily becoming more of a recluse. She spent all her time either in lessons or in the library. She would leave the dormitory at eight in the morning to catch a quick breakfast before going to lessons and then at lunch she would disappear off to the library before going back to lessons, at dinnertime she would gulp down food as though it was going out of fashion before heading to the library again and only returned to the tower at eleven o'clock after she had done her rounds, she would barely stop to say hello before shooting off to bed. Nothing Harry or Ginny said to her made any difference and her behaviour was truly starting to worry them, for a moment they considered talking to Ellie, or even McGonagall, about it but they knew that bringing up the Malfoy incident all over again would only serve to make Hermione angry and encourage her to push them further away.

The only good thing that arose out of the developments and it was not something that Harry relished, was that he and Ginny were able to spend plenty of time together. They had given up uncomfortable broom cupboards in favour of the much more comfortable Room of Requirement, which always decorated itself in a very romantic fashion for their arrival.

The room was almost empty with the exception of a chaise longue that was the size of a small double bed and dozens of candles. Harry often left the room feeling very weak and lethargic, the ambience that was created by the bed like sofa, the sweet smelling candles, the roaring fire, the beautiful Ginny and the burning desire between them was almost too much for him. It took every ounce of self-control that he had to try and keep his body in check, but he had a strong feeling that he was fighting a losing battle. Ginny just found this funny, he wondered how funny she would find it if one of her brothers happened to hear about what they'd been getting up to and took it upon themselves to murder Harry.

This thought was hammered home to him when Ellie once again caught them scurrying back to the tower after hours. Harry thanked his lucky stars that Charlie didn't appear to be with her this time. "May I ask a very personal question?" she had enquired of them as she deposited them at the fat lady's portrait once again. Both students had nodded hesitantly. "Are you two insatiable?" Harry had replied with a startled expression that left his bottom jaw hanging somewhere around his waist and Ginny had blasted an embarrassed snort through the air. "You need to calm down, people will talk!" Ellie grinned at them as she left. Harry prayed to every god that he could think of to try and ensure that Ellie didn't share her findings with Charlie. It would be only too easy for either Charlie or Ron to kill him in his sleep.

* * *

As the third week of December reached its end, Harry made his final trip of the year to the headmaster's office. His polite knocking was answered with a jovial "Do come in," from Professor Dumbledore. The old man was sat at his desk wearing robes that were vibrant purple in colour, the cuffs of which were trimmed with tinsel, as was his matching hat. "How are you today, Harry?" he inquired.

"Same as always," he replied.

"Not too bogged down with homework I hope?" Dumbledore smiled.

"I'll admit that it's more than usual but everyone seems to be managing." Harry shrugged.

"And how are Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger?" he asked more seriously.

"Ron's all right, I think, it can be hard to tell with him sometimes but we're quite worried about Hermione, she hardly talks to Ginny or I at all anymore and she spends all her time in the library," Harry said sadly.

"While that is very distressing for you, her constant return to the library is nothing to worry about. For you the cocoon of safety lies on the Quidditch pitch, for Hermione, it is to be found in the library amongst the endless supply of knowledge. I myself have been known to disappear for days amongst the dusty volumes in my private collection; there is something very comforting about books. Some provide you with facts, and facts are free of the deep, suffocating well that is human emotion. While others provide tales you can lose yourself in, tales in which everything turns out all right in the end. There is much solace hidden within the pages of a book."

"I suppose you're right, if she stops going to the library we'll start to panic," Harry said with a dry smile.

"That would be advisable. _Legilimens!'_" Dumbledore began his attack in the blink of an eye and in an equally short space of time Harry had retreated to the white room that offered him protection from assaults on his mind. "Very good, Harry, that was exceptionally quick, however, you did allow me to see one image."

"What?"

"It appeared to be Potter Hall." The headmaster was giving him a peculiar look. "Is there something you wish to discuss with me?" he asked knowingly.

"Well, now that you mention it, there is yes," Harry said thoughtfully.

"By all means continue," Dumbledore prompted.

"I've been thinking about moving in to Potter Hall."

"That is only natural; after all it had been your family's home for many years. If you do wish to occupy the Hall it can be arranged, the charms that exist around Grimmauld Place are also in use there, it would require a little extra enforcement but that is easily arranged. I could have it completed in time for the holidays if that is what you wish?"

"I just think that it would be nice to go and live there, like you said it is my home. Do you think that the Weasley's would come with me?" Harry asked. He couldn't imagine being anywhere without his family.

"I would imagine that they would be only too delighted to join you. Shall I make the necessary arrangements?" Dumbledore asked once again.

"Yes, please do!" Harry confirmed excitedly. Part of him couldn't believe that he was finally going to go home.

* * *

When he got back to the Tower, he went up to his dormitory to get a letter he had written to Remus, but his letter wasn't the only thing he got. He also received a shock, a rather nasty shock at that.

Ron was sprawled on top of his bed with Lavender Brown next to him and they were engaged in a very intense snogging session. "Hem-hem," Harry coughed. Ron jumped so suddenly that he fell right off the bed.

"Harry, mate, how did your meeting with Dumbledore go?" Ron asked one of the pillars of his bed.

"It went fine, how's your afternoon been?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Um…yeah…good…" Ron mumbled to the fold in his tied back curtains.

"Right, well I've got a letter to send. I'll talk to you later," Harry said coldly. It was clear that Ron had heard the message loud and clear because his whole face flushed and he looked down at the floor.

"Okay, Harry, see you later," Ron told Harry's retreating back. On his way back out through the common room he managed to grab a hold of Ginny.

"We need to talk, right now," he said firmly.

"Is everything all right, Harry?" Ginny was puzzled by his behaviour.

"Not here, come up to the owlery with me," Harry whispered as quietly as he could, he didn't want to draw the attention of Hermione who was hidden behind a pile of books only a few feet away. Ginny nodded and immediately followed after him, not a word passed between them until they were alone in the owlery together. "I just found Ron swapping saliva with Lavender Brown!" Harry hissed.

"He was WHAT?" Ginny raged.

"He was up in the boy's dormitory all over her," Harry continued.

"I'll kill him, how dare he? And with someone in Hermione's dormitory?" Ginny was striding menacingly from one side of the room to the other.

"He's finally lost it, he's barking! What the hell does he see in Lavender?" he asked bemused. So Lavender was pretty, that was all there was to her, Hermione was so much more rounded as a person. He never thought he would see the day that Ron would stoop so low as to snog someone because they were good looking.

"Maybe he's just trying to get back at her," Ginny suggested.

"I don't care if that's what he's doing! This has gone far enough; I'm going to bang his head off a brick wall until he sees that Hermione is the only one for him!" Harry declared.

"I don't think that'll achieve much," she reasoned.

"No, but at least it'll make me feel better!"

* * *

Harry and Ron avoided each other for a majority of the week after. While Harry was more the brooding type, Ginny preferred to vent her anger and she certainly vented it on Ron. She had given him an earful so vehement that it rivalled any her mother had ever given out. After that Ron had lost the rag with Harry for telling Ginny about the Lavender debacle in the first place. They agreed to disagree on their opinions of the situation and decided to stay away from each other for a little while. It was during this period of estrangement that Harry got the first proper opportunity to talk to Hermione in over a month. "How is everything for you, 'Mione?" he asked brightly.

"Fine thank you, Harry," she replied shortly.

"Did Ginny tell you the good news?"

"What good news?" she asked with blatant disinterest.

"Professor Dumbledore is allowing us all to move in to Potter Hall over Christmas! I can't wait for you to see the library, you're going to love it!" he told her enthusiastically.

"I'm sure I will but I won't be spending Christmas with you this year," she said quietly to the textbook that was inches from her nose.

"Why not?" he demanded, he realized as an after thought that he was being very harsh with her and attempted to right this by softening his expression.

"Because I've already told my mum and dad that I'm going home."

"Well you can just tell them that they're coming to stay with us!" Harry pushed.

"No, we're going to have a nice family Christmas," she said firmly.

"Hermione, we…" Here he waggled his finger between the two of them. "Are family too you know," he said.

"Not anymore, Harry, everything is different now." She looked up at him with eyes that were so sad that he wanted to sprint up the stairs to where Ron was undoubtedly giving Lavender mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and strangle him.

"Things will never be different between us, 'Mione, you're like a sister to me and it's always going to be that way," he assured her.

"That's very sweet of you, but I'm still not coming."

"At least promise me you'll be on your guard?"

"Of course I will. Nothing is going to happen to me, Harry, I'll be fine." She smiled at him warmly and he felt all the better for it.

* * *

Hermione spent the whole of the train journey home in the prefect's carriage while Ron disappeared off with Dean and Seamus, this left Harry and Ginny to settle in to a compartment peacefully with Neville and Susan. "Um…I wanted to talk to you both if that's all right?" Neville asked during a game of Gobstones.

"What's the matter, Nev?" Harry asked with concern, Neville was a rather funny colour.

"I don't want to tell tales or anything, and I don't want to be some kind of gossip…" he explained hurriedly.

"We know you're not a gossip, Neville, or a tale teller," Ginny smiled comfortingly at him, Neville was one of the most loyal people she knew.

"Well, it's just… I walked in on Ron the other day…" the youngest Longbottom began.

"You and everybody else," Harry cut in.

"…he was kind of engrossed in Padma Patil…" he whispered sensitively.

"WHAT?" Harry's voice blasted through the compartment and several second years that were walking past stared into the space with fright. Harry gave them an apologetic look before turning back to Neville. "You're sure that it wasn't Lavender?"

"I know I can be a bit slow on the uptake, Harry, but even I can spot the difference between Lavender and Padma," he replied sarcastically. While one part of Harry was cursing Ron the other was looking at Neville with a newfound respect, a couple of years ago Neville wouldn't have had the nerve to be sarcastic to anyone.

"'Course you can, it's just I walked in on him with Lavender last week," he explained.

"That's not all, apparently he was spotted coming out of a broom cupboard on the sixth floor with Megan Jones at the weekend," Susan added.

"We're just a bit worried, he seems to be…getting about a bit these days," Neville continued treading extremely carefully.

"He certainly does," Ginny said furiously. "I can't believe he's doing this, it's all just to punish Hermione!"

"Then why is it that Hermione is the only one who doesn't know?" Harry asked. Ginny faltered and considered this for a moment.

"I…I don't know…" she admitted.

"I think I'm going to have to talk to him again," Harry conceded.

"Talk to whom, Potter? Your imaginary friend?" Draco laughed manically from the sliding door of the compartment.

"Yeah, anybody but you, sod off, Malfoy, there are no desks to hide behind in here," Harry seethed derisively. Crabbe twitched in a suspicious manner that suggested he was just waiting for permission to rip Harry's head off.

"Don't worry, I won't be around here much longer, I can't stand the stench of Longbottom." He indicated Neville who had just been covered in the disgusting liquid emitted from one of Harry's Gobstones. "I just wanted to give you a little tip," he said in a falsely sincere voice.

"I somehow don't think that Harry needs any tips from you," Ginny argued.

"Shut it, Weasel, or you'll regret it!" Malfoy spat at her.

"Why's that?" Harry had had just about enough of this and had risen from his seat. Ginny rose with him simultaneously.

"Unless you'd like to be on the receiving end of one of my hexes you should take that back. I'm sure you haven't forgotten the effects of the last one," she smiled. As did Neville, he remembered only too well the memory of Malfoy writhing on the ground in Professor Umbridge's office while his own flying bogies attacked him. Draco coloured slightly but didn't apologize; he did stick out a hand to hold Goyle back though.

"Keep this up and you won't get to hear what I've got to say," the irritation was now evident in Draco's voice.

"We never want to hear what you've got to say," Harry reminded him.

"You will this time," Malfoy assured him. The Slytherin leaned in close to Harry as he whispered, "I wouldn't leave the Mudblood wench alone for too long, you never know what might happen," Draco leered maliciously.

"You better stay away from her!" Harry replied with an equally dangerous tone.

"It's not me you'll have to worry about this time, I've had enough of her to last me a lifetime," Malfoy smirked before moving on to terrorize some other students. Harry didn't hesitate in grabbing his pendant and calling for Ellie.

"What's the matter?" the young professor asked when she materialized out of thin air a heartbeat later.

"Draco just threatened Hermione," Harry informed her urgently.

"Threatened how?" Ellie asked, there was that fierce fire of anger burning in the back of her eyes again; Harry knew she would give anything to be alone with Malfoy in a dark room for five minutes. Between the four of them they managed to explain to Ellie exactly what Malfoy had said and implied; she disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. They didn't see her again until they were getting off the train at King's Cross, when Harry gave her a questioning look she just smiled at him, he took that to mean that Hermione was safe and he wasn't to worry. Sure enough when he got to the other side of the platform's barrier he saw Hermione strolling away with her parents, she looked over her shoulder and, quiet bizarrely, gave Harry a quick wink.

"Remus?" Harry suddenly turned to his former guardian.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I thought the new house was in Scotland?" It had dawned on Harry that they had just left the highlands to return to London when in fact their destination was back in the north.

"It is, but we've got some things to get from Headquarters first and then we'll floo to the Hall," Remus said.

The family piled out of the station and into the Ministry cars that were waiting, they drove back to the usual spot that was several streets away from Grimmauld Place and walked the rest of the distance. In the kitchen of number 12 there was a huge pile of luggage standing by the fire. "Molly wasn't sure what we would need," Remus whispered in Harry's ear with a smile.

"It's a good job that Potter Hall is big," Harry whispered back with a chuckle.

"Harry, could I talk to you for a minute?" Molly asked him. She pulled him back to the far end of the kitchen, away from the crowd that was gathered around the fire. "I just wanted to say thank you for having us over to stay, it's a lovely gesture," she said. Harry could see her eyes sparkling with emotion, he sincerely hoped she wasn't about to cry; poor Molly had shed too many tears in recent months.

"I've told you before; my home is your home."

"Yes, well, on that note I'd like to make a request of you…"

"Anything. Whatever you want is yours, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied without hesitation.

"That's it right there, Harry, I won't have anymore of this 'Mrs.Weasley' business. From now on you're to call me Molly, or if you'd prefer you can call me Mum, but if you're not comfortable with that I'll understand…" she said.

"That's not a problem, Mum," Harry grinned. Molly pursed her lips as her eyes welled. "We'd best get a move on, eh? Otherwise we won't have time to sort ourselves out before Christmas day," he quickly changed the subject to avoid another outpouring from the dear woman.

"Quite right." Molly gave herself an encouraging sniff and started to order everyone around. Before long they were all standing in the lobby of Potter Hall wondering where to start.

**A/N: The next chapter is Presents**


	23. Presents

**Presents: **Everyone settles in to Potter Hall and Christmas arrives but something is underway and nobody wants to give away the details.

"So, Harry, who's going where?" Ellie asked. The whole family had hauled their luggage up to the third floor of Potter Hall and they were now assembled on the landing awaiting further instructions.

"Erm…I don't know…" he looked at her for help. She sighed loudly at him.

"I suppose you'd like me to tell everyone where to go?" He nodded guiltily at her. "Right-o, as master of the house and someone whose name begins with H, why don't you Ron and Ginny take H Wing?" She signalled to her left.

"Sounds good to me," Harry nodded.

"Moony, maybe you should go with them?" Ellie asked with a persuasive glint in her eye.

"A very good idea I should wager," Remus said agreeably.

"Molly, Arthur, Bill and Fleur, would you like to take J Wing?" Ellie waved a hand at the archway behind her.

"That would be lovely, Elizabeth," Molly cooed, she then smiled warmly at Harry.

"Fred and George, you can stay in A Wing with me and Charlie if you like?" This time Ellie pointed to her right.

"Sounds ace to me!" Fred and George replied in unison.

"I've just got one condition," she said as she watched the twins carefully.

"What's that?" George asked suspiciously.

"If you want to blow anything up can you do it down in the cellar? If you break anything in these rooms then I would have to break you and we wouldn't want that now would we?" Although there was a perfectly pleasant smile on Ellie's face and a sort of singsong quality to her voice, Harry was fairly certain that she was deadly serious.

"As long as you show us where the cellar is, we'll be only too happy to blow it up instead," Fred consented enthusiastically.

Everyone set about unpacking in his or her respective rooms; Harry had decided to take up residence in what was once his grandparent's bedroom. It was similar to his parent's room in J Wing in that it was located at the top of a tower but the décor was much statelier in this room. The colours were much warmer, there was a sort of pale green on the walls and the bedcovers were made from a darker forest like shade of the colour. The furniture content was much the same, there was a large wardrobe, who's inside was actually thrice the size of the outside, a dressing table which was covered in ornate perfume bottles, and a couple of chairs arranged around the large, black marble fireplace. A long mirror stood beside the wardrobe and every time Harry looked at him it insulted him. "Fix your hair," it shouted at him the first time he walked past it and "Tuck that t-shirt in!" not long after. When Ginny floated a trunk of his belongings from Grimmauld Place in to him, the mirror took the opportunity to voice its opinion on her appearance. "What a lovely looking young lady, how did a rascal like that get a girl like you?" it inquired.

"Just lucky I guess," Harry mumbled with irritation in the background, why did every mirror in this house seem to hate him?

"Well it certainly wasn't your charming personality," it scolded him as Ginny left the room. She bumped right in to Ellie on the way out.

"Did you leave him in one piece?" the older female joked.

"I always leave him in one piece!" Ginny protested. "I wouldn't go in there just now, he's having a bit of a domestic with the mirror," she chuckled.

"Insulting him like mad is it?" Ellie grinned knowingly.

"Yeah, and it praised me up instead, so he's a bit annoyed."

"Just between you and me, all the mirrors in this house are enchanted to abuse Potter men, one of Granny Potter's many brilliant ideas," she said proudly.

"Well you might want to dilute the spell a little because at this rate Harry'll smash them all."

"That's okay, they'll repair themselves," Ellie was now practically doubled over with laughter.

"Granny Potter certainly was a devious little witch, wasn't she?"

"She managed to put with my grandfather for twenty odd years, not to mention raise two boys that were every bit as cunning as him, she'd have to be devious!" Ellie chuckled.

"I think I would have liked her," Ginny smiled devilishly, Granny Potter sounded like just her type of person.

"You would have got on like a house on fire!" Ellie threw back over her shoulder as she left the wing.

When everyone was settled they gathered together in the second floor kitchen, Molly had nearly fainted at the sight of it, it was easily three or four times the size of the kitchen that she had had at The Burrow. It was equipped with just about anything and everything that you could ever need. "We'll have to get some food in," she commented as her eyes glazed over the empty larder that was the size of a small bedroom.

"The masters and misses is needing food?" Dobby asked as he and Winky appeared with a crack. "Dobby and Winky will get the food," he sang as he and Winky vanished again.

"That elf really is an angel," Molly smiled.

* * *

An hour or so later Dobby had returned with enough food to feed the five thousand and had dinner bubbling away gently. "Ellie, I need a quick word," Harry whispered to his cousin over Ginny's head.

"Let's step outside." Ellie rose from the table and exited the kitchen with light grace. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a hand with a couple of Christmas presents I'm after," he whispered to her.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked instantaneously.

"How do I go about getting deeds changed?"

"Deeds?" She gave him a thoroughly questioning look.

"I've had some good ideas."

"Well, you'll need to go to Forensis Aquila's office in Diagon Alley for that."

"Can you arrange that?"

"I'll see what I can do, I may need to organize a guard, who shouldn't I ask?" Ellie had a devious Marauderesque glint in her eye.

"Moony, Tonks, Molly or Arthur," he said extra quietly.

"Remus won't take it well…"

"He will when he sees what we're giving him," Harry assured her.

"We?"

"I'd really like these things to come from the both of us, is that okay?"

"So long as you tell me exactly what it is that you're doing." She gave him a look that was scarily reminiscent of McGonagall. Harry leaned forward and outlined his plans to her; she gazed at him with sheer and utter amazement. "Wow, Harry! Did you really come up with that all on your own?" She surveyed him suspiciously.

"Erm…yeah."

"Now if you could just harness that genius and put it towards to bringing up your Potions marks, I would be delighted," she said emphatically.

"Sorry, Ellie, it's not going to happen," he apologized with a smile.

* * *

The next morning Ellie woke Harry at what he assumed was a scandalously early hour but actually turned out to be half past nine. He could see from the long windows in the kitchen that the grounds of Potter Hall were still shrouded in darkness. Nobody else was awake at this time, the kitchen was unusually empty, not even Dobby was pottering away. Harry found all this strangely suspect. "Where is everyone?" he asked Ellie.

"Shhh!" she hissed with a finger on her lips. Once she had shut the kitchen door behind them she began to whisper. "I may have accidentally slipped some Sleeping Draught in to everyone's pumpkin juice last night," she grinned guiltily.

"May?" he queried.

"All right! Definitely did, everyone but you and me, I thought that would be the best way to keep our little trip as quiet as possible. We've got four hours before it wears off," she said, taking a quick glance at her watch.

"So who's going to be our guard?"

"Mad-Eye."

"Is that it?" It wasn't that Harry liked to go everywhere with a guard of twenty but there was a certain feeling of safety involved in the large number that one ex-Auror could not fulfil.

"We're trying to be inconspicuous; nobody would expect us to be out this close to Christmas. You've never seen Diagon Alley two days before the big day; it's not pretty. Everybody's out trying to get their last minute presents and their prepared to hex you for that last pair of Quidditch goggles believe me. We are the Order of The Phoenix and we have very tight security, we are not stupid enough to go gallivanting in a crowded street two days before Christmas with no guard, or at least that's what the enemy thinks. Never overestimate the intelligence of your opposition, Harry," she said confidently. "So it'll just be you and me with Mad-Eye circling us like a constantly vigilant vulture that's hidden under an invisibility cloak," she chuckled. "We're just waiting for the signal." Sure enough, as soon as she had mentioned the signal a gnarly hand with a wand clasped within its grasp appeared in the kitchen's fire and shot sparks in to the empty, cavernous room. The young pair jumped in to the fire and very soon found themselves stepping out in to The Leaky Cauldron.

Harry had never seen the place so full; there wasn't room to swing a Pixie, let alone a cat. It was strictly standing room only, every single seat was full and all the gaps in between the tables were filling up too. With a great amount of effort Ellie and Harry managed to shuffle their way through the throng and out to the back door that kept the entrance to Diagon Alley hidden. Harry watched as Ellie tapped the bricks that he had once seen Hagrid rap with his pink umbrella, the wall parted to allow them passage but unfortunately there was nowhere to go.

The street was packed to capacity, even more so than the pub, people barely had room to breathe and there was the constant rumble of packages colliding with other packages and shoppers' limbs. If pushing their way through the pub had been difficult, pushing their way through this horde was nigh on impossible. Yet somehow they managed it, and they were nearly at Gringotts when Ellie suddenly started pushing through the people to her left, they ended up squeezed between the shoppers and a black, wrought iron door. Ellie found what Harry assumed was a bell but turned out to be an intercom. "Please state your name," a very polite voice requested.

"Mr. Harry Potter and Mrs. Elizabeth Weasley," Ellie muttered as quietly as she could without being overheard by the people around them but loud enough for the polite voice to hear what she had said.

"Of course, come on up, Mrs. Weasley," the voice replied. There was a loud click and the door swung open.

"Up you go, Harry," Ellie ushered him forward to the staircase that was revealed and followed him after shutting the door sharply.

They emerged on the slightly less busy street two hours later, although the mass had thinned somewhat it still didn't allow for free flowing passage. It took them nearly half an hour just to push their way back to The Leaky Cauldron and by the time they jumped out of the fire back at Potter Hall the kitchen was still deserted. "It's too quiet, it just feels weird," Harry said uncomfortably.

"I don't like it either," Ellie shivered and made her way for the door.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"Back to bed, it'll look odd if Charlie wakes up and I'm not there. You should probably go too, I know how Ginny likes to pay you a morning visit," she said with a suggestive smile.

"What…how…!" Harry spluttered.

"I had hoped that you would have realized by now that I'm not quite so oblivious as some of the other people in this house." She gave a picture of Molly and Arthur that she had hung the previous day a surreptitious look.

"How do you do that?"

"It's a Dumbledore thing." She smiled warmly before slipping out of the kitchen and back to her beloved husband. Harry, realizing that Ellie was right about Ginny enjoying a morning visit to his room, followed suit.

* * *

The two days leading up to Christmas were a hazy blur of activity. When everyone had finally arisen from their lengthy slumber on the day of Harry and Ellie's trip to Diagon Alley the men gathered in the Entrance Hall. "Right chaps," Arthur said jovially to the group assembled before him. "Today we are going to go and get ourselves a Christmas tree the Muggle way!" he said in a voice that positively skipped with excitement.

"You what?" Ron immediately yelled. He did so right in Bill's ear and caused his older brother to jump out of his skin and right on to Remus's toes. So while Remus wobbled on one leg to massage the toes of his other foot, Bill took a swipe at Ron, who ducked so that Harry cleverly caught Bill's hand with his face. His glasses flew off his nose and landed on the floor, shattering the glass.

"Sorry, Harry!" Bill said apologetically. "I meant to get him." He plonked a large and heavy fist on the top of Ron's head; he was quite possibly the only person tall enough to reach the top of Ron's hairy cranium. The tall and lanky boy immediately reached up to rub the point of impact tenderly.

"Don't look so worried, Ron, I'm sure one of your new girlfriends will kiss it better for you," Harry said coldly. A bunch of surprised eyes fell on Ron and his ears burned red.

"Sod this, I'm off to help the girls with the other decorations," he grumbled and marched off in the direction of the formal dinning room where the girls were currently plastering tinsel to everything.

After a little more discussion the men that were left behind put on their heavy cloaks, gloves and big rubber wellies. They stepped out in to the crisp December air and began marching through the foot of snow that had settled over the land. Arthur and Remus were leading them towards what looked like a small wood at the very edge of the grounds. When they arrived there they began sizing up trees, thankfully it wasn't too long before they found a suitable candidate. Arthur conjured a chainsaw that he promptly handed to Harry for instruction, having seen a man do this on television once he fired it up and handed it back to Mr. Weasley. Harry, Fred and George lined up to one side of the woods and watched the other three men with considerable interest. Bill and Remus were stood a good bit away from the tree with their wands pointed at it accusingly while Arthur proceeded to swipe the chainsaw through its trunk. After almost ten minutes the tree fell to the ground with a resounding thud. The six men then managed to hoist it on to their shoulders and carry it back up to the house.

The next day had been spent deciding exactly where to put the tree, after much debate between the two Mrs.Weasleys it was settled in the centre of the Entrance Hall. Everybody got involved with adding the baubles and tinsel to it, Dobby even baked some sweets that they could attach string to and hang from the branches. To complete the spectacle they put a little model of Merlin right at the top, where he was able to sparkle down on everyone because of the light from a candelabrum that was hanging only a few feet away from him. When they eventually reached bedtime on Christmas Eve everybody was well and truly tired, they all disappeared off to bed and slept soundly.

* * *

This year Harry was spared Ron bursting into his room at an ungodly hour but didn't escape Ginny's early rising. It was just after nine when his petite girlfriend dragged him from the warmth and comfort of his large bed. She towed him all the way from his room down in to the family sitting room on the floor below. Because the tree was down in the entrance hall the presents were piled on either side of the blazing fire. Everybody was now awake and the present opening began, the sound of ripping and tearing reverberated through the air, as did subsequent squeals of delight.

Ginny was delighted with the emerald encrusted ring that Harry had bought for her, once he had assured her that he wasn't trying to propose. He was equally happy with the cherry wood picture frame she had bought for him, especially because it had a picture of the two of them in it. Ellie was happy with the pair of shoes Charlie bought her and the lovely necklace that Remus had gifted her with. They kept shooting furtive glances at each other, both of them knew about the two rolls of parchment that were currently residing in the pocket of Harry's dressing gown. He was just waiting for the right moment to hand them over.

The moment presented itself just after Dobby had cleaned up the bits and pieces of destroyed wrapping paper, everybody was lounging in the living room admiring their new possessions and waiting for breakfast to be ready. "Hem-hem," Harry coughed, it never ceased to amaze him how well that got people's attention. "There are two more presents to give out, these are from me and Ellie," he said as he handed a roll to Remus and another to Arthur and Molly. The three adults looked at him oddly before untying the little piece of festive ribbon that kept the parchment rolled up and reading them carefully. Their jaws dropped progressively lower. "Ha – Harry, Elizabeth, I can't accept this…" Remus muttered with astonishment.

"You bloody well can, Remus Lupin, it's about time that we gave something back to you. Besides if you don't accept it then I shall take it as personal insult and we will be forced to duel," Ellie said seriously but with a smile.

"What's the matter? What have they done?" Charlie was mildly amused by Remus's reaction.

"They've given me Potter House…" He continued to stare at the parchment in his hand with shock. Then in one fluid movement he swept out of his chair and wrapped his arms around both of them. "I don't know what to say…. this is too generous…you're far too kind…too kind…" he mumbled.

"Ellie's right, you deserve it," Harry told him. Now that Remus's special present had been exposed everyone turned their attention back to Arthur and Molly, tears were streaming down the plump woman's face. Arthur looked up at them with his mouth flapping in silent words; Harry held his hand up to prevent any protestations that may or may not have been building. "It's because of me that you don't have a home anymore, if you hadn't been so close to me then The Burrow would still be here. My family is not going to be homeless, Mum, I won't have it," he vowed. Molly wrapped her arms around him and sobbed in to his shoulder heartily.

"Your mother would be so proud of you, you're such a good boy!" she cried.

"What did you do?" Bill asked as he whipped the parchment out of the hand of his still silent father.

"In the name of Merlin! They've given us Grimmauld Place!" Bill exclaimed. His siblings then crowded around him to get a look at the piece of paper.

"I've got one request though, Molly," Ellie said in her soothing voice.

"Anything at all, dear," Molly sniffed.

"Promise you'll make it a proper Weasley home, just like The Burrow?"

"Of course! Oh, Elizabeth! Such a wonderful girl, just like your mother!" Molly continued her weeping.

"I have to tell you something, Ginny," Arthur said when he eventually found his voice.

"Yes, Dad?" Ginny replied. She was currently sneaking her way back to Harry.

"If you don't marry this young man, I shall be thoroughly disappointed," he said. Harry began to flush fuchsia but Ginny just grinned madly.

"I'll keep that in mind when he asks me," she said as she snuggled in closer to his shoulder. Harry just wished that the floor beneath him would swallow him up before he had the chance to get anymore embarrassed.

* * *

They were just sitting down to breakfast when Fawkes materialized out of the air in front of Ellie. He dropped a letter in to her lap and disappeared in a flash of fire. Ellie ripped open the letter and let out a strange sort of strangled note. "We need to go now!" she screamed and raced towards the fire. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, George, Remus and Arthur followed her. Harry looked down at the parchment that now lay discarded on Ellie's breakfast plate. There in his headmaster's loopy scrawl was a very short and frightening message.

_It has happened. You must come at once._


	24. Hurting Hermione

**Hurting Hermione: **What has happened? Where did the others go? Why does Potter Hall have another houseguest? All these questions will be answered.

Harry read the note over and over again, he read it aloud to Ron and Ginny, he even tried to interrogate Molly about it, but none of these things got him anywhere. After nearly two hours everyone spilled out of the fire looking battered, bruised and bloody. Although she hadn't left with them Tonks returned, she looked extremely upset and her hair was a deep colour that didn't match her skin tone very well. Harry was about to start asking questions when Ellie and Tonks blazed straight past him, "Molly, would you come too?" Ellie asked over her shoulder as she sped from the room. Out of sheer curiosity and an uninformed anger, Harry followed her, even in spite of Remus's best attempts to stop him and his friends from the pursuit. Ellie zoomed along the corridors and up the stairs in to A Wing, she stopped abruptly in front of a door that was just to the right of her bedroom, she pointed her wand at the handle and mumbled something unintelligible until the door gave a loud click. She knocked politely before calling softly, "Hermione, are you decent?"

Harry was about to ask why she thought Hermione would be in there when the door was pulled open by the bushy haired Head Girl who was startled to see so many people standing in the hallway. "What's wrong?" she asked after seeing the expression on Ellie's face.

"Sit down, Hermione," Ellie said as she guided the other girl towards the bed.

"Please, just tell me what happened!" Hermione was getting progressively more alarmed.

"Earlier this morning Voldemort sent Death Eaters to your house, Tonks held them off for a little while but…they overcame her…Hermione, your father…is…is…" Apparently Ellie couldn't say what Colin Granger was because her sentence came to a stuttering halt.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione, I didn't stop them. They got to your dad before I could do anything, he's dead," Tonks whispered. It suddenly struck Harry that she had bushy brown hair identical to Hermione's but the grey eyes that were her own were full of tears that threatened to overcome her.

Harry very much doubted that Hermione had been up long, she was still wearing her pyjamas and her hair was even more bushy than normal. She sat on the edge of the bed beside Ellie who had one of her hands wrapped around both of her student's and her arm wrapped around her shoulders. Hogwarts' top young witch was staring into space with her blood shot eyes, her face was pale as the white snow that was coating the trees that could be seen in the window behind her. Her mouth was hanging open loosely in dumbstruck horror. "My mum, what about my mum?" she suddenly asked.

"She's in St. Mungo's, she was hit with a curse that has yet to be determined," Remus sadly provided.

"I want to go and see her," she demanded immediately.

"Yes, of course, we'll leave you to dress and shall go straight away." Remus began herding people out of the room. "Ginny, why don't you stay and help?" Ginny nodded and swapped places with Ellie. The rest of them trooped back to the kitchen where Molly began to patch up the light war wounds of the returned combatants.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded of Ellie. She shot him a furious look before she responded.

"We took Malfoy up on his little tip," she said angrily to him. "Just before Hermione got off the train Tonks morphed into her and took her place. We then threw an invisibility cloak over Hermione and snuck her out of the station with us, she's been living in that room ever since. Winky has been taking her meals and bringing her books from the library."

"That's why she winked at me, I though it was strange. So she's been here and Tonks has been at her house?" he asked.

"That's right," Tonks spoke up to take the heat off Ellie. "Seven Death Eaters appeared this morning and I got stunned before I could do an awful lot, I think I managed to take one of them with me though. Luckily Dumbledore had set up wards around the house and he was alerted the second that the group arrived. Order members were arriving before they had a chance to kill Mrs. Granger, but that was definitely what was coming." Tonks just felt so stupid. Here she was, a trained Auror and she hadn't been able to do anything to prevent Mr. Granger's death or the harrowing attack that had been inflicted upon his wife. She felt so useless.

"You did what you could," Remus told her comfortingly as he wrapped his arms around her. "This isn't your fault."

"No, it's mine," Harry announced.

"How many times do you have to be told that you're not responsible for every life that's taken?" Ellie asked him irritably.

"Are you trying to tell me that if Hermione didn't know me then her parents wouldn't still be alive?" he shouted at her.

"No, what I'm telling you is that if you hadn't told us about Malfoy's threat then the real Hermione would have been there as well and she would either be dead or sitting in Voldemort' lair right now, would you rather that?" Ellie shouted right back at him.

"I would," Hermione answered her from the door to the kitchen where she had just appeared with Ginny's guidance.

"We all say things like that in times like these, dear," Molly said as she put her hand on Hermione's elbow compassionately and directed her to the table. "Would you like some tea or toast before you go?"

"No thank you, I'd rather just go," Hermione replied. Her voice was empty of any and all emotion; she didn't appear to be blinking either. She was staring at everyone in disbelief.

"Certainly, perhaps it would be better if you came, Molly?" Remus suggested. He knew that as soon as Hermione saw her mum she was going to need a motherly figure to comfort her.

"Of course, Remus," Molly summoned her cloak and the three of them disappeared in to the fire.

"Shouldn't they be taking a guard with them?" Ginny asked Bill.

"Mad-Eye and Kingsley are already at St. Mungo's, they've been keeping a lookout since Mrs. Granger arrived there," he replied.

"What happened to her?" Ron was paler than any of them had ever seen him and he looked as though he was on the verge of vomiting. For a second Harry felt sorry for Ron, he really did care about Hermione and at the end of the day they were just having a stupid row, it would pass and they would be back to their normal selves. No matter what Hermione had done to him, Ron would never ever have wished any harm to come to her or the parents that she loved so much.

"A lot of very horrible stuff, they just killed her dad but they put her mum through hell. It was a mess, a terrible, terrible mess," Bill said sadly.

"That's enough, Bill, they don't need to know the details," Ellie half-heartedly scolded her brother in law.

"They just need to be prepared, Hermione is going to be really upset," Bill rationalized.

"Her father's just died, and her mother has been hospitalized, of course she's going to be upset!" Ellie snapped unintentionally. "I'm sorry, Bill, I didn't mean to…"

"I understand," he nodded.

"Eet iz such a terrible zing for one zo young to suffer zo much," Fleur added.

"Worse is to come, I can feel it," Ellie said as she stared out the window. She had a horrible feeling down in her gut that things were going to get a lot worse, very soon.

* * *

When they returned many hours later Hermione was in hysterics, her body was wracked with sobs, she was unable to stand under her own power and was being supported between Remus and Molly. Her face was puffy and blotched red by her tears and her eyes had never looked so heartbreaking. Ron rose from his seat and attempted to wrap his arms around his ex-girlfriend but she pushed him away fiercely, when he tried to plead with her she snapped at him scathingly. "Don't you dare try and comfort me! You were the one complaining when I went back to the Muggle world, well congratulations you got your wish, I have no reason to go back now!" she screeched. Ron withdrew, pushed his hand through his long red hair and attempted to salvage something from the wreckage of their relationship.

"Hermione, I would never have wanted this, I know how much you love your parents, I didn't want this…"

"Like you care about me! Shouldn't you be off kissing a girl somewhere? I wouldn't want to interfere with your busy love life!" She wailed and stormed from the room. Molly and Ginny went after her while Ron mumbled something about going for a walk and left the room as well.

"How is Mrs. Granger?" Charlie asked.

"The healers are reasonably confident that she won't make it to morning, I told Hermione that she can go back to the hospital after she's had a shower and something to eat," Remus replied. There was another flash over the table and Fawkes had dropped another letter. Ellie swiped it off the table before anyone else got the chance to.

"There's going to be an Order meeting here in half an hour," she said quietly. "Dobby, could you put dinner out as soon as possible?"

"Certainly, miss, Dobby and Winky will do it straight away," the little elf responded eagerly.

Twenty minutes later everyone had almost finished eating and Dobby and Winky were already clearing up. Everyone at the table nearly jumped out of their skin when Professor Dumbledore materialized in the kitchen without warning. Whether Dumbledore realized the surprise he had caused or not was unclear because he began regardless. "How is Ms. Granger?"

"How do you think?" Ellie asked him sardonically.

"That is only to be expected. Is everyone else all right?"

"They're all in one piece, which is more than can be said of Hermione," Ellie addressed her grandfather with a surprisingly sharp tone that bordered on accusatory.

"I see. I shall not stay long, I merely want to recount the events and see if we can uncover any useful information," he replied without a hint of annoyance at his granddaughters tone.

"Sir, I have a question," Harry interjected before the exchange became too heated.

"By all means ask it, Harry," Dumbledore smiled politely at him.

"Why did Malfoy tip us off? Wasn't that a bit stupid?"

"Yes it was, I can only imagine that Mr. Malfoy assumed that by telling you about the proposed attack you would keep it to yourself and attempt to save Ms. Granger without assistance," he replied thoughtfully.

"But what would that matter?"

"You would have been very susceptible to attack and it is likely he thought you might get yourself captured, he would then be able to claim to the glory that would come from manipulating Harry Potter in to the hands of Lord Voldemort," he explained. "By telling Elizabeth as soon as possible you ensured that reason was applied to the situation and Ms. Granger was kept safe, it is a great tragedy that we could not afford the same luxury to her parents, despite out best efforts."

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

"That is a very good question, Harry, a very good question indeed."

* * *

Later on in the evening Hermione, Remus and Molly returned to St. Mungos for the night. Ellie stood in the quiet kitchen surveying the dark scene from the window, only three of the house's occupants remained awake, her, Charlie and Bill. As she stared out into the pitch-black night she felt despair suffusing its way through her veins. An atmosphere of bereavement was once again seeping through the woodwork at Potter Hall, this was a place that had seen death before, and the unmistakable sounds of grief were held within the walls. Ellie closed her eyes to the cold view in the window and a new setting formed before her eyes.

She was trapped, she seemed to be sitting on a soft surface yet there was a cage around her, she tried desperately to shift her enclosure but it was too heavy. It was then that she realised that the hands before her were not her own and that the space she was trapped in would be far too small to hold her. She reached out to touch the thing that imprisoned her and found bars, she reached beyond them and felt rough pieces of wood and stone, she caught her finger on a sharp piece of wood and cried out. It wasn't her voice; it was much younger and very high pitched. Suddenly there was rumbling and a boulder to her left shifted, in the gap that was created she saw a woman's kind face. "Over here, I think I've found her!" the woman called over her shoulder. She was gently pushed out of the way by a man with shoulder length dark hair, a pale face and grey eyes, Sirius.

"Elle Belle?" he called, she cried louder. Ellie felt strong, warm arms wrapping around her and when she snapped her eyes open she was no longer trapped in an up turned cot, she was back in the kitchen with her husband's loving arms holding her tightly.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he tenderly kissed her earlobe.

"No, I'm half left," she said emptily. She was inexplicably furious with Charlie; Sirius had been so close to her, she could still smell the musky cologne that he always wore. She wanted to be near him again, she wanted Charlie to let go of her so that she could float away back to Sirius.

"That's my girl, never lose your sense of humour at any time," he smiled sadly in to her hair. It smelled like summer, honey and flowers all at the same time. He gently turned her round to face him. "There was nothing you could do, you know," he whispered to her as he cupped her face with his rough hands.

"No, Charlie, I could have done everything. If I'd insisted that they came here like last year then this wouldn't have happened, Hermione would still have her parents," she replied. She was only just able to glance over his shoulder at the happy pictures that adorned the wall, memories of the perfect family Christmas, yet one of the smiling people was dead and another's life was hanging by a thread.

"You can't stop people from doing what they want, the Granger's wanted a family Christmas and you had no right to deny them it," Charlie told her unwaveringly.

"And now I can't deny them anything ever again because all that's left is Hermione!" she scalded.

"Hermione will get over this, she's strong and she has everyone here to help her. She's not going to drift out into the wilderness; we'll help her through it. She's not going to be alone in this; we'll make sure of that."

"It doesn't matter what we do, we can't bring her parents back and we can't replace them. She isn't a faulty wall, Charlie; we can't just plaster over the cracks and get on with things. Losing your parents is something you can't understand until you've lost them and I pray that never happens to you." Little salty, pear shaped tears were winding their way from her eyes down the side of her cheeks. He caught them with his thumb and wiped them away.

"Is that what happened with you? Did we just plaster over the cracks?" he asked her sorrowfully.

"Yes and the surface is starting to crumble. My scars aren't even going to think about healing until Voldemort has paid for every single life that he's taken," she said powerfully.

"Well, we'd best make sure that we sort him out soon. Ellie, if you need to cry do it, don't hold it in, you'll just make yourself feel worse." He pulled her into his chest and kissed her head. He knew that Ellie's suffering was a deep rooted thing, every death reminded her of her parents, every casualty reminded her of how much had been lost and could never be recovered. Silence once again settled through the air as everyone wasted yet more time waiting for the inevitable.

It came at half past two on Boxing Day morning. Remus came out of the fire ashen faced with Hermione and Molly behind him, Molly still had very visible tear tracks. Hermione was a heart breaking sight, her grief was beyond words or feeling, it was mingling with the blood that was coursing through her almost still heart and it was in the suffocating air that she was breathing. Every part of her was lost to misery.

"Jane died half an hour ago." Although Remus had whispered because of the quiet in the room it sounded like he had shouted.

"Hermione, I promise you…" Ellie began but she knew no words mattered. To Hermione all that mattered was finding her parents' killers and making them suffer.


	25. Unhappy Birthday

**Unhappy Birthday: **Hermione is still reeling from the loss of her parents, Ron is starting to realize that he's made a big mistake and Ellie has a hard time getting old, a time made only more difficult by Voldemort and his latest antics.

It was into the New Year before Hermione was allowed to bury her parents. Hogmanay had passed without much notice in Potter Hall, the house had been very subdued as the last minute of nineteen ninety-seven ticked away and the first minute of nineteen ninety-eight ticked to life. There was no vibrant party, no fireworks, and no toasts to the year to come. Just quiet prayers that this year would see the end of the wretched war that was stealing life up and down the country. On the third of January Hermione held a Muggle funeral service for her parents in the little church that resided within the grounds of the Hall. The Weasleys, Harry and a few members of the Order, including Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, were the only ones to attend it. Ellie had kindly offered up some spare burial space in the graveyard that accompanied the church so that Hermione's parents could be kept somewhere safe, somewhere that they would be guaranteed to rest in peace.

The day before they were due to go back to school there was a very muted knock at Harry's bedroom door, this surprised him because normally people just strolled right in. "Come in," he called as he threw another pair of socks on to the large pile of assorted school things that were gathering on his bed.

"Um…all right, Harry?" Ron's slightly shaky voice asked.

"I suppose I am," he answered.

"I…um…well…I wanted to talk to you, is that okay?"

"I thought we already were talking," Harry replied bluntly.

"You call this talking? Because I call it banging my head against a brick wall?" Ron snapped.

"Funny you should mention that, I was thinking about doing that exact same thing just the other day." Harry angrily snatched a set of black school robes out of his wardrobe.

"I just want us to get back to normal," the ginger boy pleaded.

"We'll get back to normal when you remove your head from your own backside." There was a hint in Harry's tone that suggested he didn't think this was going to happen any time soon.

"That's what I'm trying to say! Harry, I've made a mistake!" Ron yelled.

"Actually, I think you'll find you've made several. You were a pig to Hermione, you dumped her, you're snogging the face off anything in a skirt and you expect us all to feel bad for you! Well, I'm sorry, Ron, but there is no way that I'm going to feel bad for you after the way you've treated Hermione and while we're on the subject of treatment I think you'll find that I've been quite fair with you." Ron began to protest but halted at the infuriated look that sparked out of Harry's green eyes.

"If the shoe had been on the other foot and I had treated Ginny the way you did, you and those brothers of yours would have taken me out to a quiet, secluded corner of the castle grounds and hexed the living daylights out of me! I wouldn't have been able to walk right for months. I think that considering what you would have done to me, I have been very lenient with you. I should have reduced you to wood shavings but because you're Ginny's brother and she happens to like you I've restrained myself! And now you saunter in here to tell me that you've made a mistake, well, excuse me if I don't double your dose of sympathy but I'm a little bit busy trying to take care of the best friend who's just lost her parents!" Harry raged. He was startled to see tears forming in Ron's eyes.

"You're right, Harry, I don't deserve your sympathy, and I certainly don't deserve Hermione," he said dejectedly.

"Sometimes I really don't think you do," Harry continued his scolding; he wasn't going to let Ron off lightly.

"It was the look on Malfoy's face, he's always trying to get one over on me and Hermione's always been the one thing that he could never have, yet there he was, gloating away. I couldn't take it, I was just so angry," Ron finally admitted.

"You may have got that point across."

"I know now that I was a prat, I over reacted…"

"You don't say."

"I do. I want to make it right, but I don't know how to," Ron watched his friend expectantly.

"So you expect me to help you after everything that's happened?" Harry asked sceptically.

"I love her, Harry, I just didn't think that I could after what happened but I do, I love her more than ever," Ron said so quietly that Harry barely heard him.

"I'll help you but only on one condition," Harry bargained.

"Name it," Ron replied instantly.

"You swear on your life that you'll never do anything like this to her again." He made sure to look Ron right in the eyes when he gave his answer.

"I swear on my life, your life, anybody's life, I'll never hurt her again," Ron pledged unflinchingly.

"Good because I promise you, Ronald Weasley, if you do I'll stick your broomstick so far up your rear end it'll take the best healers in St. Mungo's a week to retrieve it," Harry growled.

"Thanks for the pleasant imagery there, mate," Ron smiled. Finally things were back to normal between the pair of them.

* * *

Their return trip to school was uneventful. Hermione sat in the prefect's carriage with Ellie the whole way back while Ron sat in with Harry and Ginny trying to brainstorm some ideas for winning Hermione over. It was difficult but in the end they came up with something. After their first day of classes Harry, Ron and Ginny returned to the tower to dump their bags before dinner. Just before they entered the tower Ron slipped Harry's invisibility cloak over his head,onceinside the portrait they passed Hermione who was half hidden behind a stack of books in one corner.When they were up in the boy's dormitory Ron removed the cloak and passed it to Harry who put it on and followed Ginny back down the stairs. "How are you, 'Mione?" Ginny asked the older girl as she approached the table she was working at.

"I'm fine, thank you, Ginny," Hermione replied without looking up from her book.

"Harry wants to have a word in private," she pointed to the staircase.

"Is Ron up there?" the older girl asked nervously.

"No, he went straight down to dinner, you know Ron, he never could resist the lure of food," Ginny smiled. "Will I see you down at dinner later?"

"I'm not sure, I've got a lot to do," she pointed to the large pile of books on her table.

"Would you like me to bring you something up?"

"No thank you, I'm not hungry," Hermione said firmly.

"You have to eat at some point." Ginny was so worried about Hermione, she hardly ate any more and all she seemed to do was study.

"I will, but I have to go and see Harry just now," she changed the subject and started the climb to the boy's dormitory.

"So now we wait," Harry announced as he whipped the invisibility cloak off.

"Yep, let's go and eat before we visit the Room of Requirement," Ginny flashed him one of her devilish smiles before whisking him off to the Great Hall.

* * *

Apparently, Hermione was not impressed at being tricked into speaking to Ron and promptly stopped talking to Harry and Ginny for their collusion in the matter. They tried to explain to her that they had her best interests at heart but for some reason Hermione didn't see things that way. When they asked Ron what exactly had happened between the pair of them Ron just shook his head and mumbled incoherently, it hadn't gone well at all and instead of being a step closer to getting back together, they were three steps back.

When they awoke on the morning of January the fifteenth panic was zooming around the Great Hall, the morning edition of the Daily Prophet had already been delivered and those who didn't have copies were leaning over the shoulders of their neighbours to get a glance at the front page. The headline was not a pleasant sight.

_"YOU-KNOW-WHO'S SICK BIRTHDAY MESSAGE_

_Multiple attacks as the Dark Lord leaves a Birthday Surprise._

_Twenty witches and wizards died last night in ten coordinated attacks up and down the country; each site had the Dark Mark hovering in the air over the victims. In a shocking new twist a green mist, identical to the kind that forms the mark, was shot in to the air right next to it but strangely it took the shape of a birthday cake. Ministry officials are at this minute looking through birth records to create a list of witches and wizards born on this day. We'll give you more information as soon as it is available to us. The Ministry are encouraging everyone to stay inside and not to answer doors to anyone._

_Ministry Statement pg. 2_

_Eye-Witness Accounts pg. 3_

_Tips for securing your home pg.7"_

Next to the article there was a photo of the haunting green birthday cake next to a skull with a snake protruding from the mouth. Harry shivered, as he always did when he saw that sign of death. He had started wracking his brain for people he knew with birthday's today when his eyes fell upon Ellie at the staff table, she looked positively ill. The little cogs in Harry's brain all slid in to place, who did Voldemort hate more than most? Ellie. Who had a birthday today? Ellie. Who was twenty years old today? Ellie. He felt the sudden need to comfort his cousin and rushed up to the top table. "Are you okay? Sorry, stupid question," Harry blabbered.

"Not having the best day," she said. She glanced down at the paper in front of her and gave an odd lurch; he could have sworn that she was nearly sick.

"Well…um…Happy Birthday!" he offered.

"Thanks, Harry, lets just say that I've had better birthdays. That's me officially old now, I'm not a teenager any more, and I have to be grown up, mature and responsible. No more messing about for me, nope, just a pipe and slippers from now on," she muttered humourlessly.

"It'll be all right, Ellie," Harry attempted to comfort her as her eyes once again fell on the newspaper.

"Twenty people are dead this morning because of me; I really don't see that things can be right at all." She was again overcome by her need to vomit and she rushed from the hall with her hand clamped firmly over her mouth. In his head Harry was calling Voldemort every foul name under the sun; he had ruined what should have been a wonderful day for Ellie. A day that should have been celebrated with twenty candles on a cake was now being celebrated by twenty candles of mourning that were burning their way through Ellie's heart.


	26. Caught In The Lion's Den

**Caught in the Lion's Den: **Fear is at an all time high and it's having some very strange effects on the Hogwarts students and what will happen when an intruder is discovered in Gryffindor Tower?

Almost every day in the rest of January was punctuated by a spate of deaths; apparently Voldemort was starting to take his assault on the world up a notch. Hardly a single person in the castle went untouched by the escalating death toll. Teachers and students alike were united in their grief and their determination to overcome the impending doom. Suddenly the Sorting Hat's idea of all four houses bonding together didn't seem so far fetched.The less arrogant members of Slytherin house were making a valiant attempt to console their classmates in other houses and their counterparts were doing their best to welcome them in to the main fold of the school. Obviously there were still some people, like Malfoy and his cronies, who were doing everything they could to bring about inter-house fights in the corridors. Harry had seen Malfoy hexing his friends slyly between classes and then blaming it on other nearby students. However, the crafty Slytherin's efforts were not nearly enough to dampen the spirit of unity that was rising up amongst the school's patrons.

Unfortunately the force of harmony was not enough to overcome deep-rooted trepidation and mind occupying anxiety. Everyone had someone outside of the castle, someone who was in more danger as each day passed. Harry knew this feeling better than any other, the family that he had outside the castle's walls were in more danger than any of the students around him could possibly have grasped. He was Voldemort's number one target and he knew that the Dark Lord wouldn't stop until he had found a way to sufficiently hurt Harry. Anything that might distract Harry's attention from the task in front of him was a good plan as far as his enemy was concerned. Professor Dumbledore maintained that the frequent deaths were a diversion, a tactic Voldemort was using to keep them away from what he was working on, what that was no-one knew, not even Snape, but they did know that they would likely find out sooner rather than later.

A strange mood settled into the castle, it was tense, apprehensive, prickly and dismayed. Many people began to act peculiarly, the normally shy people were suddenly outspoken and the usually outspoken people were oddly quiet. One of the people who was most affected was Ginny. The latter fortnight of January wrought about some mysterious changes in her character, Harry found her unfathomable. They had gone from perfectly happy and loving to gloomy and distant. They hardly spent any time together these days. Okay, a lot of that was down to the excessive NEWT workload that was being heaped on Harry's shoulders but there should still have been time for the odd hour together here and there. Apparently not, though, because every time Harry tried to sneak Ginny away from whatever she was doing she put the brakes on the idea and stormed off. The thing that worried him more than anything else was the amount of time that she seemed to be spending with Dean Thomas as of late. Every time he saw her moving around the corridors between classes she virtually ignored Harry and instead fawned all over Dean.

It all got too much in the evening of the last day of the month. Harry and Ron were slaving over a Care of Magical Creatures essay for Hagrid while Ginny was on the other side of the room playing a particularly riotous game of Exploding Snap. When Ginny laid down her last card, the pile on the table exploded in Dean's face, singeing his eyebrows. She stretched her arms above her head and a loud yawn escaped her. "I think I'll go to bed now, I'm very tired," she said as she wangled her head from side to side. "Goodnight, Dean." Harry nearly jumped out of his chair in fury when she bent down on her way past the other boy and kissed him gently on the lips. He was more incensed when Dean flashed her a lustful smile, he even eyed up her bottom as she climbed the stairs to her dormitory.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry bellowed as he rushed towards his roommate.

"What do you want, Potter?" Dean asked exasperatedly.

"I want to know why you're hanging all over my girlfriend? And what you think you're doing kissing her?" Harry roared.

"What's wrong? I don't suppose that you've ever considered that the famous Harry Potter just isn't man enough for her?" Dean said acerbically.

"YOU WHAT?" Harry screamed. He tried to launch himself at the other boy but somebody had a handful of his robes, he turned around to see Ron looking at Dean scathingly.

"Stay away from my sister," he said dangerously.

"Or you'll what? Weasel me to death? I somehow don't think so," Dean smirked. He rolled his eyes at Harry and Ron before he headed up to bed.

"What have I missed?" Harry asked Ron with bemusement.

"I don't know. I've missed it too." Ron was looking at the staircase that Dean had just disappeared up.

"What is going on around here? It's like the twilight zone," Harry continued to puzzle.

"The what?" Ron snapped out of his daze and looked at Harry oddly.

"Sorry, it's a Muggle expression, there used to be a t.v program called The Twilight Zone and from what I've heard a lot of really strange things used to happen," Harry explained.

"Oh, right. Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and this will all just be a dream," Ron said consolingly.

* * *

Ron's prediction proved to be incorrect, when they woke up the next morning nothing had changed. In fact things got worse, in the middle of his breakfast at the Gryffindor table; Harry was tapped on the shoulder sharply. He looked up to see Ginny standing behind him; she was glancing up at the doors of the Great Hall distractedly and when she stared back down at him there was something missing from her eyes; love. "You're dumped, Harry," she announced loudly. Everyone in the hall stopped their chomping so that they could hear every word that was about to pass between Hogwarts's most famous couple.

"What? Why?" Harry was acutely aware of the high-pitched quality of his voice. He didn't really want to discuss this here of all places but he wanted to know why he was getting dumped.

"Because I don't like you anymore," she looked at him with a mixture of laughter and disbelief at his stupidity.

"But what did I do?"

"It's more what you didn't do," she snorted.

"Ginny, you can't just chuck me like this!" Harry complained.

"Too late, I jut did," she said austerely. She turned on her heel sharply and made to turn away from him but she changed her mind at the last second. "Oh and by the way, I'm going out with Dean now." With that she walked away from Harry, leaving him standing in the middle of the Great Hall completely gob smacked and everyone else feeling extremely humiliated for him.

* * *

"What just happened? What's going on? Why is she doing this?" Harry spluttered as Ron pulled him out of the Great Hall and away from the hundreds of eyes that were staring at him pitifully.

"I haven't got a clue," Ron huffed as he struggled to pull Harry's rigid form through the corridors.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked him when he finally returned his focus to the direction that Ron was dragging him in. "Flitwick's classroom isn't up here."

"We're not going to Charms yet," Ron answered as he hoisted Harry's book bag further up his already overloaded shoulder.

"So what are we doing then?"

"We're going to the library."

"You think we're going to find the answer to Ginny's mad behaviour in the library? Trust me, if there's a book in there that explains the weird things that girls do then there's going to be a waiting list as long as the train line from Hogsmeade to King's Cross for it. Every boy in school's going to want to read it. I don't even think you could fit an explanation of a girl's brain in to a book. It'd be about a million pages long and even then it probably wouldn't make much sense because a girl would have had to write it and we don't understand anything they say. There would be all this reading in between the lines stuff that we'd never pick up on…."

"Harry, would you stop babbling you're giving me a headache!" Ron snapped. "We're not looking for a bloody book! We're looking for Hermione!"

"Is that really a good idea? I mean all you two ever do is fight and argue, you'lljust get yourself a detention off Madam Pince." Harry knew he was rambling; he couldn't help it, he felt like he was drunk. Only this wasn't the kind of tickly, funny feeling, it was more of a desperate and depressing kind of drunk.

"Shut up, Harry, and wait here." Ron pushed him roughly against a wall outside the library. He disappeared inside and returned five minutes later with Hermione hurrying along behind him. He grabbed Harry by the shoulder once again and pushed him into an empty classroom further down the corridor.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked suspiciously as she slammed her book bag on a desk grumpily.

"Ginny just broke up with Harry," Ron filled her in.

"And while I'm very sorry to hear that, I don't see what it's got to do with me," she told him acidly.

"She's acting really weird," Harry elucidated.

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed we're in the middle of a very nasty war right now and everyone is a little bit worried about everything that's happening, but perhaps the wonder duo is too oblivious to notice that. I'm sure there has probably been some important Quidditch crisis that has dominated your short attention spans. Or maybe you were just too busy scheming up ways to get people to talk to you!" Hermione said contemptuously.

"That's uncalled for Hermione! We wouldn't be bothering you if we didn't think something was seriously wrong! Something isn't right with her and you're the only person smart enough to work it out!" Ron yelled. Hermione breathed deeply for a few minutes before she continued.

"I don't suppose it occurred to you that I might be busy with other things?" she asked coolly.

"Things that are more important than saving our best friend's relationship?" Ron said softly. Hermione remained silent but Harry was gaping at his red haired friend. "What?"

"You wait until now to get it?" Harry asked disbelievingly. Ron's ears flashed red.

"Yeah, well things are slightly different when you're on the other side of the fence," Ron confessed.

"I've only been trying to explain that to you for months now!" Harry exclaimed.

"Can we get back to the point please?" Hermione cut across their repartee. The two boys explained Ginny's strange behaviour over the past two weeks, only pausing when their female companion made an odd um or ah.

"So what do you think?" Ron asked her once they had completed their summary. She was clearly still thinking very hard.

"It definitely doesn't sound like Ginny, I'm surprised that she dumped you at all but with the way that she did it, she would never do that, no matter how much she hated you." Hermione gave Ron a very pointed look.

"So what should we do?" Harry asked. He wasn't happy about sitting here while his relationship with Ginny disappeared down one of Moaning Mrytle's toilets and zoomed to the bottom of the lake where it would probably lie forever as just another toy for the Giant Squid to play with.

"Maybe we should just corner her and harass it out of her," Ron suggested indifferently.

"Don't be so stupid, Ron." Harry shook his head.

"Actually, that's quite a good idea," Hermione confirmed as she surveyed Ron with an interesting look.

"Are you kidding? Corner Ginny? She'll go ballistic!" Harry squeaked.

"No, the old Ginny would go mental but who knows what this new Ginny will do?"

"Right then, we'll get her after dinner," Ron said with renewed enthusiasm.

"See, you didn't need me after all," Hermione said despondently.

"Don't be daft, 'Mione, Ron comes up with his best stupid ideas when you're around." Harry draped an arm over her shoulders and squeezed her tightly.

"Oi! I'll remember that the next time you come up with one of your gung-ho plans to get us all killed!" Ron whined and punched Harry on the arm.

"Ow!" Harry started gingerly rubbing the now throbbing flesh of his upper arm. Hermione smiled at the pair of them; somehow it felt like things were getting back to normal.

* * *

After dinner, the first meal in the Great Hall that Hermione had attended since Halloween, the three of them returned to the common room and settled themselves in to a table in the corner inconspicuously to wait for Ginny. They hadn't seen her at dinner and hoped that by hiding themselves in a corner she would walk right past them and they would be able to follow her to wherever she was going. They didn't have to wait all that long before she climbed through the portrait hole with Dean, she was tucked under his arm and gazing at him adoringly. Harry and Ron nearly burst with fury when they spotted her hand moving around in the pocket of his robes. The seventh year's plan worked excellently; neither Dean nor Ginny noticed them as they ambled their way across the room and up the boy's staircase.

"I kill him and her for that matter!" Ron seethed. Harry's anger was wordless; it wasn't just that, he was hurt, deeply wounded in fact. The way Ginny was looking at Dean and touching him, she had never done any of that with him, and he couldn't believe his eyes. "Let's go now!" Ron hurled himself from his seat and at the stairs with Harry and Hermione in hot pursuit.

"Ron, you're Head Boy, don't do anything foolish!" Hermione screeched from behind them. If Ron hit another student he was sure to be stripped of his badge. Up in the seventh year boy's dormitory, Dean and Ginny were stretched out over Dean's bed. They watched horror struck as his hands went places that Harry had never dared to touch and Ginny's did no better.

"GET OFF MY SISTER NOW, THOMAS!" Ron roared and ripped Dean away from Ginny. A lot of scuffling ensued as Dean tried to reach around and hit his captor; Ginny jumped off the bed and began pulling, scratching and even biting Ron's arms. Harry dodged around behind her and grabbed her around the waist with one arm; he hoisted her off the floor and clamped his other arm around her thrashing limbs.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET HIM GO!" she screamed.

"Can everyone please calm down?" Hermione called politely over the din.

"GET OFF ME YOU FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR!" Dean bellowed. This statement caught them by surprise, so much so that Ron released his hold on the tall black boy.

"What did you call me?" Ron asked in confusion. This feeling was echoed by Harry and Hermione. Dean was a Muggle born wizard, one who would have placed no store in blood status; his outburst didn't make any sense.

"I think a better question would be, who are you?" Hermione posed this question, proving that her mind was as sharp as ever and she was still unchallenged as the cleverest witch of her age. She didn't have to wait long for her answer.

Before Harry's astounded green eyes Dean's dark hair and skin lightened to become the deathly pale complexion and silvery blond hair of Draco Malfoy. That wasn't the only surprise, however, when Harry turned his shell shocked face to Ginny the red was fading from her hair and she was becoming taller, Ginny wasn't really Ginny.


	27. Ginny In Danger

**Ginny in Danger: **What is going on in the boy's dormitory? If Dean is Malfoy and Ginny isn't Ginny then, who is she? The trio find themselves falling back in to their old ways as they enter a race against time.

Slowly but surely Ginny's soft features melted away, her freckles were lost in the colour of her increasingly pasty cheeks, her big brown eyes became small and almost black, the delicate outline of her chin hardened and as quickly as the transformation had started it stopped. Harry was no longer staring at Ginny but found himself staring at the pug-like face of Pansy Parkinson. Harry and Ron gazed with astonishment from Draco to Pansy; however, Hermione's face had hardened. "Keep them here, I'm going to get Professor McGonagall," she said as she surveyed the two Slytherins through narrowed eyes.

"No, I'll get Ellie here." Harry pulled his wand out with one hand and his pendant with the other. "Ellie," he said to it firmly. A second later his cousin popped in to the space beside him. She looked at the five students in front of her with a bewildered look that slowly turned to suspicion.

"What's going on here?" she asked, she had her wand out and it was itching to be pointed at Draco.

"These two were masquerading as Ginny and Dean," Hermione informed her quickly.

"Is that so? _Petrificus Totalus!_" she said twice. Draco and Pansy went as stiff as boards and fell backwards. "Ron and Hermione, can you get Draco, Harry and I'll take Pansy."

"What are we going to do with them?" Harry asked as he finally snapped out of his trance, he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

"The headmaster's office," Ellie replied shortly before casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself and the two stunned students. So Ron and Hermione grabbed a hold of Malfoy while Harry and Ellie got a grip of Pansy, they made their way down the stairs and out through the common room with a fair bit of difficulty but before long they were hauling their detainees over the threshold of Professor Dumbledore's office. The headmaster was in the middle of dictating a letter to his quill when they burst in.

"What is the meaning of all this, Elizabeth?" Dumbledore asked with concern.

"How did you know?" Hermione enquired of her headmaster.

"Ms. Granger, when one has become accustomed to the sweet smell of your granddaughter's perfume your nostrils seek it out where ever they go and dance with glee when they find it. Although it could, of course, be because I recognised the glitch that her outline is causing to the view of my bookcase." He pointed to the shelves that were quite rightly behind Ellie. She made herself and the two Slytherin students visible again. Dumbledore watched from his seat with a great deal of interest in the proceedings.

"These two were found in Gryffindor Tower," Ellie told him. "Would you three tell the story of how you managed to uncover them?" she ushered the three Gryffindors forward to tell their tale. They covered everything from Ginny's peculiar behaviour to Dean and Ginny turning in to Pansy and Draco, although they left out the details of what Ginny was doing with her hand in Dean's pocket and what the pair had been up to when they were discovered in Gryffindor Tower.

"I see, well, that is certainly very interesting," Dumbledore said very carefully. He revived the two stunned students who picked themselves up off the floor and began to dust their robes off. When Pansy realized where she was she began to draw daggers at Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Parkinson, please take a seat," Dumbledore's voice was as light as ever. Ellie conjured four seats behind the other two for Harry, Ron, Hermione and herself to sit in.

"I would like you to explain to me, how you came to be in Gryffidor Tower disguised as Dean Thomas and Ginevra Weasley." Dumbledore watched them both carefully. Pansy gave Draco a panicked look before she blurted out an answer.

"We took Polyjuice Potion," she divulged.

"Keep your mouth shut!" Draco hissed.

"And how did you come to have the ingredients for that potion?" Dumbledore asked her calmly, he pretended that Draco wasn't there and that he couldn't hear him. Malfoy was giving Pansy very threatening looks.

"We stole them from Professor Snape's store cupboard," she said quickly.

"You'll pay for this, Parkinson!" Draco murmured venomously.

"Please do not threaten other students, Mr. Malfoy, ten points from Slytherin." Dumbledore said calmly.

"An essential ingredient would be a part of Mr. Thomas or Ms. Weasley, how did you obtain that?" Dumbledore's acute stare was enough to break most grown wizards and wasplenty to reduce Pansy to pieces.

"He had those goons Crabbe and Goyle kidnap them! I don't know where they are or what they've done to them, it's not my fault, Professor, and he made me do it! I think I was under the Imperious Curse!" Pansy sobbed.

"I very much doubt that, you would know if you had been under the Imperious Curse," the headmaster replied frostily. "Professor Weasley, would you please take this student to her Head of House, explain the current situation and return with him immediately?"

"Yes, headmaster," Ellie replied. She grabbed a fierce hold of Pansy's arm and frog marched her from the room.

"I'm not telling you anything," Draco said casually after several minutes of an intense staring competition between him and Dumbledore.

"We shall see about that," Dumbledore smiled one of his quietly confident little smiles, the kind that lit the fire of hope in Harry's heart. "So, you stole the ingredients for a Polyjuice Potion from Professor Snape's private store. You had Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle kidnap two students and I assume leave them somewhere in the castle incapacitated. That particular potion doesn't work unless the person you wish to turn into is still alive. And I trust it wasn't difficult to sneak into the tower along with some other Gryffindors, perhaps younger students who wouldn't know your victims so well and who would be easily intimidated." He surmised. The whole time Draco just stared at him with a smirk plastered on his face. Professor Snape swept into the room behind Ellie and looked at the scene before him with unmistakable intrigue.

"You required my presence, Headmaster?" Snape tilted his head to the older wizard ever so slightly.

"Did you bring the vial, Severus?" Dumbledore inquired of him.

"Yes, sir," Snape plunged his hand in to he pocket of his robes and withdrew a little bottle that Harry could guess held Veritaserum, when he looked at Hermione's face he knew he had guessed right. There was an expression of satisfaction settled on her features.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, this is Veritaserum, do you know what it does?" Dumbledore asked Draco.

"Yes."

"I would like you to take two drops," Dumbledore instructed.

"No," Draco sneered.

"If you do not take it willingly I am prepared to force you to do so," he warned.

"See if I care."

"Very well, _Patefacio Hisco!_" Dumbledore flicked his wand and Malfoy's mouth opened wide. Professor Snape dropped several little beads of liquid on to the boy's tongue. "Now tell me, Mr. Malfoy, who asked you to carry out this plan?"

"The Dark Lord."

"Are you one of his followers?"

"Yes."

"Have you taken the mark?"

"Yes."

"Why did you infiltrate Gryffindor Tower?"

"I was told to keep a close eye on Potter."

"How long have you been disguising yourself as Mr. Thomas?"

"Two weeks."

"Where are Mr. Thomas and Ms. Weasley?"

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"I left it to Crabbe and Goyle to hide them."

"You have no idea where they are?"

"I know that they're still in the castle, but that's it."

"Why did you involve Ms. Parkinson in all this?"

"She caught me stealing stuff from Snape's cupboard and asked what I was up to. She's got a big mouth so I had no choice but to let her in on the whole thing, she thought it'd be funny to turn Potter's little Weasel against him and it was."

"How often do your associates collect samples from the impersonated students?"

"They don't, they cut off a load of their hair when they grabbed them."

"What exactly did they do to them?"

"I'm not really sure, I know that they laid their boots into Thomas, I overheard them talking about it but I don't know what they did to Weasley, just that she's unconscious."

"Can you tell us anything else that might be useful to our search for them?"

"No. You might want to hurry though they're probably half dead by now."

"Severus, would you please take Mr. Malfoy to the containment cell that he was held in last May, I shall have to write to the Minister," Dumbledore instructed. Snape looked at Draco as though he was the most disgusting thing that he had ever laid eyes on, the Potions professor used ropes from the end of his wand to secure Draco before he pulled him out of the room. "We will make an immediate search of the castle, I would be glad if you could enlist the help of the DA members," he said as he turned to face the other four. "Elizabeth, would you please go and inform the staff?"

"Of course," Ellie replied dutifully. She was about to sweep from the room when Hermione spoke up.

"That might not be necessary," she said calmly to Professor Dumbledore.

"And why is that, Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore was giving Hermione a little knowing smile.

"Harry has a map, don't you?" she nodded at him. Harry contemplated this for a moment, admitting he had the map would mean revealing its existence to Professor Dumbledore while denying it would delay their search for Ginny, Ellie's voice in the back of his head stopped him from thinking any further.

_'You're as stupid as your father, Harry James Potter, tell him about the map now or I will!'_

"Yes, I do," Harry replied with a slightly fearful look over his shoulder at Ellie, she was giving him a very hard look that told him he was probably going to get a telling off that she really would have rather given to his dad.

"A map of the school?" Dumbledore replied with his usual twinkle back in his eye. That was when Harry realized that he had known about the Marauder's Map all along.

"Yes, it shows where everyone is within the castle grounds," Harry nodded vigorously.

"That is very good indeed; would you be prepared to tell Elizabeth where it is so that she can retrieve it for you?"

"It's at the bottom of my trunk under the invisibility cloak," Harry told Ellie, she then vanished.

"Professor, may I ask a question?" This came from Hermione who was now staring at the spot where Ellie had departed from.

"You undoubtedly wish to know how Elizabeth comes and goes in that way when it is not possible to Apparate at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Elizabeth has a very special gift that comes from her Grandmother's side of the family. My dear, departed wife was the Great Granddaughter of Professor Everard." He pointed to a picture of a sallow face wizard with short black hair. "He was a very celebrated headmaster and an extraordinarily powerful wizard; it was he who devised most of the protective charms and wards that protect Hogwarts from intrusion. Legend has it that because he created the wards he was the only one able to pass through them and that he locked the charms so that only someone with his magical thread could open them."

"Is that even possible?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"It is if you believe that nothing is impossible. The proof of it lies in the fact that Elizabeth can transport herself to any where on the grounds in the blink of an eye while I cannot and am forced to use much more conventional methods." Dumledore smiled, you didn't have to be a Seer to spot the intense look of pride on his face.

Ellie popped back in to the room with the Maruader's Map clutched within her grasp, she laid it out on the table and Harry pointed at it and said, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." The little black ink lies started spreading from the point where his wand had touched the paper. When the map was fully formed they began their search in earnest.

* * *

Their eyes scrolled over the surface of the map a hundred times or more but there was no sign of Ginny or Dean. "They must be somewhere, Malfoy said that they were definitely still within the castle!" was Hermione's strangled cry.

"Calm down, 'Mione, we'll think of something." Ron laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But what, we've searched through every room, every nook, and every cranny, they're not there!" she cried.

"There must be something we're missing, we'll look over it again," Ron pulled her gently in to his side and rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

"Ron, you're a genius!" Ellie suddenly exclaimed.

"I think you've got me confused with Hermione, she's the brains of this outfit," Ron pointed at the girl tucked under his arm.

"Harry, look at this," Ellie manoeuvred the map so that Harry was now staring down at a seventh floor corridor.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Harry asked her puzzled. His eyes were slipping up and down the corridor along empty classroom after empty classroom.

"You're supposed to be looking at what's not there," Ellie said cryptically. Harry looked up at her to see that her eyebrows had risen several centimetres and she was clearly urging him towards her target. He look back down at the passageway and began to trace his finger over the parchment, he closed his eyes and imagined himself walking down the corridor. There was an empty room, another full of spare desks, a bust of some famous witch and the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, another classroom. _Hold on_ he thought to himself, he traced his steps back towards the tapestry and opened his eyes. When he looked down at the spot where his finger was on the map there was a big blank space where a room should have been.

"The Room of Requirement, it's not on here," Harry said hitting the jackpot.

"That could be where they are, if Crabbe and Goyle have needed somewhere to hide them then the map wouldn't show any occupants because one of the requirements is that it's kept a secret!" Ellie said to her grandfather who nodded his concurrence.

"Quite right, we should…" Dumbledore didn't get the opportunity to say what he thought they should do because Ron, Hermione and Harry had already sprinted from the room. They were already hurrying up and down in front of the stretch of wall on the seventh floor when Ellie and Dumbledore caught up to them, but the usual method of getting the room to expose itself didn't seem to be working.

"It won't work!" Harry yelled and banged his fist off the wall.

"What is it you've got to do?" Ellie asked as she stared at the bricks in front of her, she was running her fingers across them searching for something.

"You're supposed to walk back and forth in front of it three times while thinking of the thing that you need," Hermione answered, her face was screwed up in concentration as she strode purposefully up and down. Ellie took a step back from the wall and began to follow Hermione's movements. On her third trip past the wall a handle appeared. Everyone looked at each other wondering if this was the door that would lead them to their injured friends. Ellie reached out nervously and twisted the handle; she pushed the door open forcefully and pointed her wand in to the darkness.

"_Lumos_, " she said, but instead of her wand lighting up, the room did. It resembled a dark and disgusting dungeon, there was a pool of stagnant water in the middle of the room and the walls were covered in moss and decay. In one corner lay the broken figure of Dean Thomas, he wasn't moving and he was lying in a very odd position, Harry could tell that some of his bones were quite obviously broken. His face was bruised and bloody, both his eyes were swollen, he had quite obviously taken a severe Muggle beating. He searched the room for Ginny and when he saw her, his breath caught in his chest, she looked exactly as she had all those years ago when he found her in the Chamber of Secrets: on the verge of death. She was sprawled on the floor uncomfortably and when he knelt down to touch her she was as cold as ice, there was not a single hint of colour in her cheeks and even her flaming hair looked pale.

"Ginny? Ginny, please talk to me? It's all right, I'm here now, and you'll be okay. Please hang on," he whispered as he kissed her on her frozen forehead.

"Harry?" she breathed almost silently.


	28. Unlocking The Door

**Unlocking the Door: **Ginny and Dean make it to the hospital wing, Malfoy gets something he's been deserving for a while and Harry wants to ask Ginny something important.

Professor Dumbledore didn't hesitate in escorting his injured pupils to the hospital wing; Ellie was extremely concerned about Dean as his breathing was shallow and barely detectable. Madam Pomfrey just about had a whole heard of Abraxan Horses. "What on earth has been going on? Have you been doing something dangerous again?" she asked Harry with an annoyed little look. She didn't know why though, everyone knew that he was her favourite patient.

"For once I had practically nothing to do with it!" he protested good-naturedly. The healer ran her wand over the two still students in front of her before she made her decision.

"Ms. Weasley will suffice for now, she's not in immediate danger but Mr. Thomas is. Get his parents, Albus," she instructed. Harry smiled; Dumbledore wouldn't take orders from anyone else.

"As you wish, Poppy," Dumbledore replied before exiting the ward. Madam Pomfrey pulled a curtain around the bed that Dean was lying on. She attended to him for a long time before she called over the screen. "Elizabeth, could you pop into my office and get me the pyramid vial of sky blue potion?"

Ellie bolted in to the nurse's office and ran past them with the aforementioned vial in her hand. When Madam Pomfrey emerged from behind the screens her lips were pursed and her brow furrowed. "Now lets have a look at you, Ginevra," she said to Ginny. Harry hadn't let go of his girlfriend's hand for so much as a second since they had found her. She had a slight grip on his fingers but it was extremely weak, Ginny's grasp was normally firm but flexible, now it was feeble and far too accommodating. "I'll need some space, Mr. Potter, you can come back as soon as I'm finished with her." Harry was reluctant to let go but he knew that arguing with the matron would serve no purpose.

"Where did Ron and Hermione get to?" he asked Ellie as he approached her. She had conjured herself a chair to stare out of the ward's tall windows.

"I sent them to write a letter to Molly, I thought it might do them good to spend some time together at a time like this, it might give them a jolt in the right direction.

"I hate this," he said as he conjured himself a chair that wasn't half as comfortable looking as Ellie's.

"It's not my favourite part either," she replied.

"I worry about her a lot you know," he said to the grey sky outside.

"Of course you do, you're her boyfriend, worrying is part of the job description," she smiled at him.

"Sometimes I think that she might be better off without me, well not better off as such but safer at least." It was a thought that danced it's way across his mind several times each day.

"Oh, right! You think that by pushing her away she'd be safer? You think that without you around she'd be out of harm's way? You really can be so stupid, Harry. The fact that she's in danger just because she knows you means that you should pull her as close as is possible and hold her tighter than you could ever have imagined you would. Life is so short, don't wake up one day and wish that you'd done this and done that, take the risk because nine times out of ten it's worth it."

"Why are you always right?"

"Because I've spent a lot of years practicing it, I've got it down to a well honed art," she smiled emptily.

"I don't know what I'd do without her, it feels like she's a part of me and when she's not around I feel all disjointed." He wasn't sure that he was explaining himself very well but he knew that Ellie understood; she always did.

"That's the beauty of love, you can't live with it and you can't live without it." She smiled out the window and Harry wondered if she was thinking about Charlie. "I'll tell you one thing though, Harry James Potter, if I find out that you've broken up with Ginny for such a pathetic reason I'll drag you down to that forest and throw you to the Centaurs!" she told him sternly and jabbed a finger to the dark looming mass that was the forbidden forest.

"Mr. Potter, you can come back now," Poppy Pomfrey's kind voice filtered through the air.

"Back to the bedside for me!" He muttered jovially.

"Let me make something else clear to you, if you do that to Ginny then the Weasley brothers will be the very least of your worries," she warned him. She trotted back up to Ginny's bed with him and looked down at the now sleeping girl.

"What's the damage, Poppy?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing life threatening, although I am a little more worried about Mr. Thomas's condition, Ginevra's injuries are largely superficial cuts and bruises, nothing more. Obviously she's very malnourished and she needs rest but there is no reason that she shouldn't make a full recovery, she'll be here a week at most," she assured them both.

"Right, well I'll get off and tell Molly before she comes tearing down to the castle. You stay here, Harry, no doubt she'll want to see you when she wakes up." Ellie patted him on the shoulder and left him alone with Ginny. On her way out she bumped in to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas on their way in with Professor Dumbledore, the poor couple were distraught beyond words.

* * *

Professor Dumbledore gave Harry, Ron and Hermione permission to miss lessons the next day and they all waited patiently around Ginny's bed but she hardly stirred once. At lunchtime Ellie came bouncing in to the ward with a huge smile etched in to her face. "What has made you so happy?" Ron asked her curiously.

"At nine o'clock this morning a team of Aurors marched into the castle and down to the dungeons. They collected Malfoy from his holding cell; they removed him from Hogwarts to a new remand centre at the Ministry. This is pending a hearing in front of the Wizengamot that will be held within the next month, where it's more than likely that he'll be sentenced to time in Azkaban!" she said with glee.

"YES!" Ron jumped out of his seat and threw his fist in the air. He grabbed a hold of Ellie and began spinning her round in circles.

"It's about time," was Hermione's muted response.

"Do you have to be so bloody loud?" asked a hoarse Ginny.

"GINNY!" Everyone bellowed at the same time.

"Ah! Would you not do that, it hurts!" she complained.

"We're just glad to have you back, sis," Ron said happily and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"How long have I been away?" She lulled her head to face Harry.

"A fortnight, we owe you an apology, Gin, we didn't spot the difference soon enough," he told her sorrowfully.

"You got there in the end though, that's all that matters." She gave his hand one of her old familiar squeezes.

"I've got to go, I promised Mum that I'd write to her as soon as you woke up. Do you want to come with me, 'Mione?" the Head Boy asked his female counter part.

"I could do with stretching my legs," she nodded and the pair left the ward.

"I get the feeling that's not all their stretching, if you catch my drift?" Ellie grinned.

"Oh, yeah?" Harry was excited at the prospect of Ron and Hermione overcoming their differences.

"Yep, when I was on my way to the owlery last night they were on their way back down and they were holding hands," she said excitedly.

"Good, it's about time they sorted themselves out," Ginny said huskily.

"I'll leave you two love birds to your own devices, you've got a lot of catching up to do," she smiled and flounced her way out of the ward again.

"So what have I missed in two weeks?" Ginny asked him with a weak smile.

"How long have you got?" he joked.

"It doesn't look to me like I'm about to got anywhere."

"That is a good point," Harry admitted. He then went in to the long tale of the bizarre existence he had led in the last two weeks. He told her all about the strange behaviour that had worried him; she cringed when he relayed the activities that the Pansy had got up to as Ginny.

"That sounds awful, it makes me quite glad that I was stuck in a mouldy, damp room and didn't have to watch myself do all that. It must have been terrible for you though," she said sympathetically. She started to stroke the back of his hand gently with her thumb; Harry was amazed by how soothing such a small action was.

"I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown, I just couldn't understand it all, I didn't know what I'd done wrong, it was awful but it was still better than your fortnight," he shrugged.

"Only a little bit," she smiled. It was so wonderful to see her smiling properly again, her face lit up with all the life in it.

"I missed you so much." He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I missed you too."

"You've been all I could think about for a long time now, you know?"

"Good, because if I find you thinking about anybody else then you are in serious trouble," she grinned.

"You'll never find me thinking about anyone else, you're the only girl for me Gin, the only one." He looked up in to her deep brown eyes and smiled.

"Same here, I don't want anyone but you," she smiled shyly at him.

"I've spent all night thinking about us, you and me and what the future holds…" he told her.

"What did you see?"

"A big brood of kids with a red and black striped hair," he laughed.

"That certainly sounds… interesting…" she giggled.

"It certainly was. Ellie said something to me last night about pulling the people that you love closer and I want to be closer to you than anybody else, I'm tired of pushing people away…" he explained.

"Good, because you need to do that, Harry, you can't forget to love," she said as she ran a hand down the side of his face.

"I know and I do love, I love you, Ginny."

"I love you too, Harry."

"Good because I've got something to ask you. It doesn't matter if you don't answer the way I want you too, I'll understand if you don't want to. Ginny…" He began to pull a little suede box from his pocket but was interrupted by a rather regretful sounding cough that originated from the doors of the hospital wing, Professor Dumbledore was standing there supposedly enraptured by a moving painting on the wall which showed a very short little man with bright green boils being attended to be a beautiful and graceful Mediwitch who appeared to be clucking her tongue at the patient.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Ginny painfully tore her attention away from Harry, she could sense that he had something important to say and in truth was a little bit miffed by the interruption.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Weasley?" Dumbledore asked kindly, he was looking at Harry in a very apologetic way.

"I'm much better, thank you, sir," Ginny answered politely. A part of her really wanted Dumbledore to leave so that Harry could get on with whatever it was he wanted to say.

"I'm sure that your friends have greatly hastened your recovery." the headmaster gave Harry and the two empty seats to his left a little nod. "I am terribly sorry to have intruded on the discussion that you were having but I have some important news that I believed you would want to know before anyone else."

"It's Malfoy isn't it?" Harry's voice became tense again.

"Yes it is. When Mr. Malfoy arrived at the Ministry this morning he made several threats that his master was sending a contingent of Death Eaters to free him." There was a hint of amusement in Dumbledore's voice that suggested he didn't believe this story for a second. "And Minister Bones, in her superior wisdom," he gave a small smile. "Decided that she could not risk a group of Death Eaters attempting to break in to the Ministry and ordered that his trial be brought forward to today. The Wizengamot assembled, the cases were heard and a decision was made within the hour."

"And?" Ginny was nearly on the edge of her bed and Harry's extremely tight grip was about to snap her hand in two.

"Mr. Malfoy was convicted of being a Death Eater and of using an Unforgivable Curse. He has been sentenced to life in Azkaban." Dumbledore finished with satisfaction. Relief flooded through the young pair, Ginny actually began to cry out of thankfulness. Draco had got his just desserts and they were a cold, rotting, disgusting cell in Azkaban. Malfoy was finally gone from their lives, but unfortunately the news of his fate had chased Harry's primed question from all of their minds.


	29. Romantic Interludes

**Romantic Interludes: **Valentine's Day invades the castle spreading love through the air.

By the time that Valentine's Day winged its way into the castle both Ginny and Dean had been allowed to leave the hospital wing. Ginny was fully recovered but Dean still moved quite gingerly. She had filled them in on the events that had lead to her capture, she had been on her way back to the tower after a day's lessons when she heard the sound of a commotion down one of the corridors. As a prefect she was compelled to investigate and came across Crabbe and Goyle wrestling with Dean. She had tried asking them to stop and when they didn't she had attempted to hex them; she wasn't quick enough to stop Crabbe from kicking her wand out of her hand and slamming her against a wall. Dean had attempted to aid her but having already expended a lot of his energy in struggling with the two massive Slytherins, he wasn't able to do much. Not long after that Ginny had blacked out and didn't remember anything up until she heard Harry's voice. The good news was that although Crabbe and Goyle weren't being castigated in the same way as Malfoy, rumours had spread that Draco had used the Imperious Curse on them but Harry and his friends didn't believe that, they were being punished sufficiently. Ellie told them happily that Dumbledore had removed the pair from the Slytherin Quidditch team and that they were now effectively in permanent detention. They weren't even being allowed to the toilet unsupervised. They went to classes, meals and long detentions with whichever member of staff was free that day, and then they were confined to their dormitory room at all other times.

When everyone woke on the Saturday morning that was the fourteenth of February they were shocked to discover the walls of the castle had been painted pink. Little hearts and kisses were zooming around the newly redecorated surfaces. On the way down to breakfast Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin when one wall spoke to her, she turned her head to see a plump little cherub, complete with a bow and arrow smiling at her jovially. "Is that your young man?" the little figure asked.

"Certainly is," Ginny replied.

"Would you like me to get him with a Smooch Arrow; it'll make him want to kiss you permanently!" The cherub gave her a cheeky wink.

"That's not necessary, I want to kiss her permanently anyway," Harry said happily, he swept Ginny into a low bow and kissed her passionately. When he pulled her back up, she flushed crimson.

"Do you have to?" Ron pleaded; he didn't need to see Harry kissing his little sister like that. There was a crowd of other students around them and several of the girls amongst it were giggling dangerously and pointing at Harry. The boys in the group had gone frighteningly white and were watching the girls with consummate fear in their eyes, it was quite obvious that they were afraid that they might be asked to re-enact the scene they had just witnessed.

"I can't help it if I'm madly in love with your sister. Blame her it's all her fault. If she didn't go around looking so breathtakingly beautiful then I wouldn't feel the need to kiss her all the time," Harry shrugged. Ginny's colour deepened.

"Harry, please don't tell me things like that!" Ron moaned as he put his hands over his ears.

"What have you done with, Harry?" Ginny asked him now that she'd composed herself a little.

"Nothing. It's Valentine's Day. What's wrong with showing a little affection on the most romantic day of the year?" he enquired as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"Did you bang your head this morning?" Ginny immediately began searching though the hair on the back of his head for any signs of a blunt trauma.

"Nope, just learning to properly appreciate what I have," he told her, this time he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed the spot where a ring would have been.

"Yeah, well could you stop, mate, you're putting the rest of us to shame," Ron waggled his head at the group of nervous boys on the other side of the corridor.

"Not for all the gold in Gringotts," Harry replied.

"If you don't mind, dear, I'll save my arrow for someone who really needs it," the cherub beamed at Harry and Ginny.

* * *

The usual decorations that adorned the Great Hall had also undergone some alteration; the house banners now bore pictures of a smiling and waving cupid who was cheekily aiming his arrow at the people that were spilling in to the hall. The most surprising thing was that Professor Dumbledore was dressed from head to toe in pastel pink and toned in very well with Ellie who was wearing robes that were bright cerise. Ellie looked quite ill and Harry wondered if this was because she matched in so well with her grandfather or if something terrible had happened, but a glance down at his newspaper told him that nobody that they knew had died. He watched her carefully as she played with he food instead of eating it; he was so worried that he went to check that she was all right. "Is something wrong, Professor?" Harry remembered to use the correct term since they were in front of other people.

"I don't feel very well," she replied as she gave her bacon a sickened look.

"Has something happened?"

"No, I just feel really sick. Charlie bought me back an enormousbox of miniature chocolate frogs last night and I ate the whole lot, if I was my stomach I'd rebel against that kind of treatment as well," she smiled.

"Just as long as you're sure you're all right?"

"Definitely, I somehow think I'll live through a sore stomach."

"Tell me, Harry, what do you think of the changes I've made through the castle?" Dumbledore leaned across to address Harry.

"They're…nice…pink isn't really my colour but still. I met a cherub that wanted to shoot me with an arrow on the way down here, it was quite funny actually." Harry smiled as he thought about the look the tiny angel had given him for kissing Ginny.

"May I ask what arrow it wished to use?" Dumbledore inquired.

"A Smooch Arrow, but it wasn't necessary," Harry said proudly. Dumbledore flashed him a satisfied smile while Ellie turned to her grandfather in what Harry correctly spotted as mocking disbelief.

"Would you believe that, Granddad? A Potter male didn't need a Smooch Arrow!" she snorted in to her goblet of pumpkin juice, which had been dyed red for the occasion.

"I recall a Valentine's Day many years ago where I began to think that I was going to have to use an Anti-Smooch Arrow on your mother and father," the headmaster smiled at Harry.

"Wouldn't have done any good, Grandad, Uncle James would have found a way to counter act it," Ellie smiled at Harry but he could tell it wasn't him she was seeing. For a very brief second she saw him as his father.

* * *

"So what are we going to do today?" Harry asked Ginny as he leaned back to lounge on the couch by the Gryffindor common room fire. They had come back to the tower after breakfast while Ron and Hermione had gone for a walk on the grounds.

"I thought that we could go exploring or something," Ginny said with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.

"You're up to exploring?" he asked with a fiendish smile.

"I think a more important question is, are you?" She lay down on top of him so that her face was barely a centimetre from his own.

"I'm sure that I'd enjoy a good day of exploring, there are always lots of new things to learn and do." He could see his desire reflected in Ginny's eyes.

"What are we waiting for then?" She flashed him a wide grin and pulled him off the couch and out of the common room.

* * *

Meanwhile Ron and Hermione were strolling down by the lake.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" Hermione made a desperate attempt at small talk. She and Ron had been wandering a round the lake for over an hour now and an awkward silence filled the air between them. Ron took a look at the weather around him, it was anything but nice: after all this was the middle of February in Scotland. The country was more renowned for its terrible weather than just about anything else. The tail end of the winter chill still hung in the air but it was in the process of being chased away by downpours that surged down from the sky at regular intervals. Right now it wasn't raining but it was neither long since the last monsoon nor long before the next. The lake had expanded significantly and the water in it had made an impulsive bid for freedom up the bank that surrounded it. Everything looked dull and grey and rather worn out, a nice day it certainly wasn't.

"Not really," he answered honestly. "'Mione, I really think that we need to talk. We can't go on like this..." They hadn't officially gotten back together yet; there was just this sort of implied agreement to spending time together. Things were still so tongue-tied and clumsy between them, they didn't really know where either of them stood.

"We really do," she acknowledged. Neither of them knew what was going on between them. Were they back together? Or were they just trying to be friends again? Did they want to get back together? Had things gone too far for that? There were so many questions that needed to be answered but both of them were too afraid to ask for fear of what the answer might be.

"I don't want the Malfoy thing hanging over our heads forever..." Ron began.

"Neither do I!" Hermione quickly jumped in.

"But at the same time I need you to understand why I was angry, it wasn't that I hated you, it was because I hated him," he explained. "The thought of you kissing Malfoy was like getting kicked in the…. well, you know where." He decided at the last minute to keep things clean between them, she hated it when he was crude. "I think what worried me more than anything else was that you might like kissing him better than kissing me." He stared out across the lake, he didn't want to look at her; he might die of embarrassment.

"God, no!" Hermione burst in to his monologue. He decided to look up at her and found that her face was twisted in disgust. "Ron, there is no way that I would enjoy anything with Malfoy more than I enjoy it with you."

"If you didn't enjoy it then why did you keep your snogging session going so long?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Because I thought he was you."

"So you're saying that I'm a crap kisser?" he just wanted to get his facts right before he started getting indignant.

"No! I'm saying that when I kiss you I don't think about whether it's good or not because I'm too busy thinking about how much I love you." Her eyes were filling with tears and she was holding on to his hand with a death grip. She would keep clinging to him, keep him rooted to this spot until he understood what she was saying.

"Oh," was all that he could manage. Relief swept through his body, he might not be a crap kisser after all. "It's just, you…you're the only girl I've ever kissed and I wasn't sure if I was doing everything…right? He once again looked away and carefully examined a large lump of mud on his shoe.

"Ron, I'd tell you if you were doing things that wrong," she smiled; she could sense that the mood between them was comfortable enough for a joke.

"I just don't want you to feel like you're settling for second best," he told her.

"Second best? Why would I be settling for that?"

"I know that you really liked Viktor, maybe if he lived closer then you'd be with him instead," Ron shrugged.

"I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, Viktor is a lovely man and I enjoyed spending time with him but… I don't feel the same about him as I do about you, there's something more substantial than loveliness between us. You're the one thing that I would happily close any book for." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"I'd drop Quidditch for you too," he said eagerly.

"Come on, we both know that there's no way you'd give up Quiddtich for me," she snorted.

"Okay, I admit it, I probably wouldn't but I'd think about it!" he insisted.

"And that, Ronald Weasley, is why I'm not settling for second best."

"Why don't we go back to the castle, I've got something to show you," he pulled her in to his side they way he used to and they marched back up to the castle more like their old selves than ever.

* * *

Harry and Ginny were in a broom cupboard on the fifth floor that could have passed for a small palace. It was very spacious and had hardly any brooms at all. Despite all the space Harry and Ginny felt the need to squeeze themselves into an impossibly tight corner. Showing the surest sign that she was fully recovered, Ginny had pushed Harry into that corner to guarantee that he couldn't run away from her. They were kissing very vigorously and hadn't come up for breath in several minutes; when she pulled away from him to catch a mouthful of air he gazed down at her with his objection conveyed silently by his eyes.

"A girl's got to breathe, Harry," she grinned. It was so adorable; he was actually pouting.

"Well, if you're having trouble breathing then maybe I should give you the kiss of life?" He leant forward with his lips puckered but she swerved her head back at the last minute and flaunted her trademark mischievous smile. It was the one that reminded him that she was Fred and George's sister.

"Now, you wouldn't want to do that. The last time you tried to give me the kiss of life I wasn't actually dead and you got into a lot of hot water," she reminded him playfully. She started to pull herself away from him properly now, she took a few steps back and smiled at him; heaven wasn't worth it if you didn't have to work for it a little.

"Yes, but I'd plunge in to the boiling ocean if it meant that I could get a kiss from you." Harry started edging his way towards her.

"I know I love you and all that but I'm not kissing you when you climb out of the water all boiled and yucky." She made a disgusted face but knew that her statement wasn't true there was nothing in the world capable of stopping her from loving him. She pulled a pile of boxes labelled Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover between them. A frown flashed across Harry's face before he pushed the boxes out of the way andcontinued his advance on her.

"That's a shame because I'd love you even if you were covered in slime," he grinned, he was getting closer to her but she was already walking through her escape plan. There was a small gap between a stack of boxes that were full of dusters and a large collection of mops that were propped against the wall.

"Slime is one thing, Harry, but poached like an egg is another," she smiled at him innocently. He made one final lunge to close the two-foot gap between them and she jumped sideways through thespace she had eyed up. As she did so the group of mops made a loud rumbling noise and they all clattered to the floor. Harry's feet slipped and slid over them and he fell, face first, on to the floor. "Oh Godric! Are you okay, Harry?" she panicked. She had wanted to be playful and seductive; she didn't want to injure him. A small moan escaped his lips as he rolled on to his back and revealed that his glasses were broken. "I never meant that to happen," she cried and took a couple of tentative steps towards him, horrified by what she had caused. "Argh!" she screamed. When she had gotten close enough Harry had reached up and tugged the front of her robes so that she started a speedy descent towards his chest.

"Ouff!" Harry wheezed as she collapsed on top of him.

"Ouch!" she groaned as she started to massage the spot where Harry's elbow had collided with her stomach. Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in to his chest as it began to vibrate with laughter.

"You think that's funny do you?" she asked him indignantly.

"Nope, what I think is funny is that I've made you go from seductive, to horrified, to annoyed in the space of about thirty seconds and I did it all by tripping over some mops. You've got to admit that that is talent!" Harry kissed the side of her neck; he knew that would melt the upset away.

"I'm going to talent you right between the eyes in a minute, Potter," she mumbled and smacked her small hand on the bit of his forehead that was right above his nose. Although she looked like she was glowering at him he could see the smile that had broke out in the back of her eyes. A great sense of humour was just one of the things they shared. Harry could imagine sitting in a comfy armchair by a fire many years in the future regaling this tale to his grandchildren. He would call it 'The day your gran nearly killed me with mops.' He had managed to work his way in to a sitting position and was about to pick himself up off the floor when she pulled him back down and positioned herself on his stomach. "Where exactly do you think you're going?" she asked, she was back to enticing already.

"As if I would go anywhere with you here sprawled on the floor," he smiled. He needed to get her off him and now. He couldn't bear the thought of what he might start doing if she didn't move.

"Oh really?" she pressed herself down against his chest. "Tell me, Harry, are you hungry?" She asked with a very wide smile that only served to make him think more about the images that were running through his mind.

"Hungry for what?" He asked nervously.

"For food, what did you have in mind?" A little fire suddenly flared in her eyes. She knew EXACTLY what he was thinking.

"Food, of course," he spluttered.

"If you say so," she smiled at him knowingly. If only she knew he couldn't take much more of this. "I don't know about you but I've worked up quite an appetite."

"For what?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Food, naturally," she winked.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked Ron as they strolled through the castle. They had been wandering aimlessly around the corridors for hours now and had even taken the opportunity to stop by a fourth floor cupboard that Ginny had recommended. He had led her up the main staircases that took you back to Gryffindor Tower but when they had reached the portrait of the fat lady they had walked straight past it.

"You'll see," was all that he would say. He was leading her down the seventh floor corridor and came to a grinding halt in front of the Barnabas the Barmy tapestry. He let go of her for a brief second. He started pacing back and forth in front of the blank stretch of wall that was opposite it. When he stopped moving a shiny Mahogany door squeezed itself through the bricks, it had a shiny brass handle and a little plaque that read 'Private Party'. Ron politely held the door open for her and her breath caught in her chest as her eyes feasted upon the sight that was before her.

The room had disguised itself as the inside of a luxurious tent made from the softest ocean blue velvet that she had ever touched. The folds of material were gathered in to the centre of the room where a small silver chandelier hung down, it only had six candles that cast a haunting light over the room. Underneath the chandelier was a little round table for two that was draped in a long periwinkle blue tablecloth. It had a gorgeous collection of roses as a centrepiece, crystal goblets to drink from and silver plates to eat from. On the back wall the material was parted over a burning fire, every now and then little embers would spark off, and burn furious orange before dying away. Next to the fire was a loveseat in sapphire silk, it had a scattering of oversized cushions and looked so comfortable that she had to fight the urge to just run and lay down on it. The whole scene was beautiful. "Do you like it?" he whispered in her ear.

"Ron, it's…perfect," she breathed.

"Not as perfect as you," he smiled in a slightly embarrassed way. "I thought we could eat here instead of up in the Great Hall with everybody else. It'll give us more of an opportunity to chat." He gently guided her forward and pulled a chair out for her to sit in.

"But won't all the elves be busy sending food up to the hall?" Hermione's strong desire to free the overburdened elves could manifest itself in even the most tranquil of settings.

"All the school elves will, but we're not going to be served by them. I wrote a letter to Dobby asking for help tonight and ended up getting a visit from Winky who said she would only be too happy to help. I think that all the time she spent with you at Christmas has made her take a shine to you, and who could blame her?" he smiled at her across the crimson flowers.

"She was very good, we had quite a nice chat and she's much better now than she used to be. She really likes working for us." Although she was campaigning to free house elves there was no denying the fit of depression that being sacked had sent Winky into. Even Hermione had to admit that Winky was better off working than being free if that was what freedom was going to do to her.

"Winky?" Ron called in to the warm air. Winky appeared at his side with a covered platter in each hand, she popped these on the table and turned to Hermione.

"What would, Ms. Hermione, be liking to drink?" the small female house elf asked.

"Just Butterbeer for me, thank you, Winky," Hermione replied.

"And, Mr. Wheezy?"

"I'll have some Mulled Mead, thanks." The elf then left them alone to eat.

Over dinner they had some general chit chatter about the things they had missed in each other's lives over the past months. Ron squirmed uncomfortably when she questioned him about his rather rampant new reputation as quite the lothario. He dismissed any suggestions that he was thinking of taking up with Lavender Brown permanently. "She called me Won-Won," he admitted to the napkin in his lap.

"She what?" Hermione nearly choked on a piece of chicken that she was chewing. "Won-Won? Is she insane?"

"I think so," he nodded.

"Well I don't care if you get down on your hands and knees and beg, I'm not calling you 'Won-Won,'" she said adamantly.

"Thank Merlin, I don't think I could cope if you did," he smiled. Once they had worked their way through the food they shifted over to the loveseat where they continued their discussion. It wandered in to the dangerous territory that was the deaths of Jane and Colin Granger. Ron could feel the tears building up long before he saw them and when she started to cry he simply held her and let her do what she needed to, he should have been there to do this at the time and it was his own fault that he hadn't been.

"I'm so sorry, 'Mione," he apologized.

"What for?" She looked up at him with her red and puffy eyes.

"For being such an idiot and for not being there when you needed me. I'm never going to do that again. These last few months without you have been hell. I've just felt completely lost, and I don't know what I'd do it I lost you again."

"You won't lose me, I promise you," she snuggled in to his shoulder in a thoroughly comforting way.

"And you won't lose me either, I promise," he whispered before he kissed her passionately. They spent the rest of the evening curled up together in a loving silence.


	30. Bad Dreams

**Bad Dreams:** Is Voldemort up to his old tricks again?

Life since Valentine's Day had returned to its calm and meandering pace. Everything in the Gryffindor common room was back to how it was supposed to be, crackling with stress. With less than three months left until the O.W.L and N.E.W.T's the fifth and seventh year students were sitting on a knife-edge constantly, except for Harry and Ron that is. They didn't much care for stress, they were too busy being happy that their little group was back to normal. Now that the tension had been dispelled Neville had returned to spending time with them, Harry and Ron being terrible teasers had put him through a strict interrogation about his absence. "So where have you been?" Ron asked him as he moved his Knight forward a space, he was in the process of hammering Harry at chess yet again.

"I've been…around," Neville replied, he was watching Ron's expression carefully to see if he believed this.

"We were beginning to think that you'd dropped off the face of the earth. Is there any particular reason you haven't spoken to us in so long? Is our company that appalling?" Harry mocked.

"No!" Neville immediately protested. "It's just that I like Susan's company better, she's not liable to bite my head off." He gave them a small smile.

"How naïve is he?" Ron said to Harry as he poked a long finger in Neville's direction.

"They're all capable of biting your head off, at least with us you'd get some warning," Harry advised him.

"Maybe he doesn't like us any more? Maybe he's too cool for us now that he's a Defence Against the Dark Arts whiz?" Ron said with an emphatic wiggle of his fingers in a very dazzled manner.

"I'm not a Defence whiz!" Neville said with an embarrassed grin, praise from Ron was high praise indeed.

"Did you notice how he didn't say that he wasn't too cool for us?" Harry asked Ron.

"Oh, I spotted it all right. Mr. Big Shot is too good to hang around with the little people these days," the head boy said with a shake of his head.

"Okay, you can stop now! I just didn't want to end up playing piggy in the middle with you two arguing over my head so I thought that I'd steer well clear," Neville explained in a very hurried fashion.

"So what you're saying is that we're such bad friends that we wouldn't hesitate to drag you into our argument?" Ron glared at him.

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" the round faced boy said defiantly.

"You have to admit that he knows us really well," Harry grinned, as did Ron. The three friends chuckled about the tense situation that had enshrouded them well into the night.

* * *

Harry had found his sleep restless in recent weeks, he wasn't really sure why. He frequently woke up with a jolt and found himself twisted in his bedcovers but when he searched his mind for the cause of his distress he couldn't find anything. He put it down to subconscious pangs of anxiety about the forth-coming exams. It wasn't so much the exams that he was worried about; it had more to do with what would come after he left school. He knew that the battle was getting closer, he could feel it in every fibre of his being, and he felt like there was some omnipotent force pulling him towards his fate. But he wasn't ready; at least he didn't feel it. He had no special power or knowledge or anything really that could save him from Voldemort.

He kept thinking about the Killing Curse. He would have to use it; it was the only way to kill him and make sure that he was dead. But could he actually do that? Could he actually point his wand at another human being and say the fateful words that lead to certain death? A voice somewhere in the back of his mind told him that Voldemort wasn't human anymore but for an unknown reason that didn't provide him with any comfort. Ellie had told him that the answer to the riddle was inside him, but where? How was he supposed to find this power that he had if he didn't even know where to look? She had told him that when the time was right he would find it. When would the time be right? Would it suddenly come to him one day when Ginny was dancing naked in front of him wearing nothing but Dobby's tea cozy? Or would it have to wait until he was staring down the long wooden shaft of Voldemort's wand? Every night he posed these questions to himself as his roommates slept on and every night he fell back asleep no wiser than he had been when he woke up.

Even Dumbledore was able to recognize the signs that Harry was becoming more restless and agitated about his fate. Mental clarity was an important factor in Occlumency, hence why so few wizards had the ability to pursue that branch of magic with any degree of success. "That was rather shoddy work, Harry, I had come to expect better from you," he said, allowing the slightest tinge of disappointment to seep in to his voice. He understood the pressure that Harry was under at the minute, it may have been a long time since he himself was seventeen but that didn't stop him from remembering the pains and strains accurately.

"I know, I'm not focused enough," Harry snapped in frustration.

"Would you care to discuss it with me?" Dumbledore asked and waved his hand over the seat that Harry had fallen from during the last offence raged on his mind.

"I'm just getting irritated," he explained.

"And what is the cause of your irritation?"

"I don't feel like I'm any further forward than I was at the beginning of this year, or last year even. It's like I'm just standing still while everyone around me is moving and it doesn't seem to matter what I do I just can't get going," Harry yelled, his aggravation finally coming to a head; he was like a volcano just waiting to erupt.

"I understand your frustrations, Harry, but rest assured that you have made considerable progress," the headmaster assured him.

"How can I? I haven't learned anything!"

"The most important lessons do not come from foreign sources, Harry, they come from within ourselves and we are often so blinded by what is outside that we don't see what is inside. The second that which is important becomes necessary to survival, you will see it for what it truly is," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"But that's stuff I already know and all it does is send me round in circles!" Harry complained.

"I understand that it must seem that way but I would implore you to trust in yourself, that is the only advice that I can provide. When the day and time comes you will know what you need," the headmaster assured him.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I have faith in you."

* * *

That night his sleep got more restless than ever; but this time it was not without reason. When his eyes had finally closed he had floated around in the darkness of his mind before he was drawn to a light that appeared to be in the distance. As he got closer and closer to it he realized that it wasn't in fact a light at all, it was a view of a group of people. Harry seemed to be staring at it from above rather than on the ground or through another's eyes. There was a large circle of at least twenty Death Eaters, in the centre a tall skeletal figure was pacing back and forth slowly but purposefully.

_"Tell me the news," said Lord Voldemort's icy voice, he did not sound happy._

_"As yet we have been unable to locate any of our targets, my Lord," Mulciber answered fearfully._

_"He still eludes us?" there was sharp anger in the Dark Lords words._

_"Yes, master."_

_"This will not do! If we do not locate him presently the all my plans may go to ruin," Voldemort hissed._

_"We're doing the best we can, my Lord," Wormtail said in the most grovelling manner he could muster._

_"Obviously you are not; otherwise we would have him already!" Voldermort bellowed. "Crucio!" Peter convulsed on the ground for several minutes before the curse was lifted. "Come forward, Severus."_

_"I live to serve the Dark Lord," Snape said proudly as he knelt down at his master's feet._

_"Tell me about the boy, where do things stand with him?" The anger dropped away from the steely voice and was instead replaced with the faintest hints of disquiet._

_"The fool believes that he may have already taken the final step towards achieving his power," Snape revealed._

_"And has he made known what this power is?"_

_"No, my Lord, I believe that only two people know, him and…"_

_"The girl." There was a loathing unlike any other in his voice. That wretched Elizabeth seemed to always be in the best position to destroy him and she was becoming a very large and annoying thorn in his side. With her still alive the boy would be difficult to reach and almost impossible to obliterate. She regarded his life far above her own and Voldemort knew that this was delicate and powerful magic, with her around he would have to tread very carefully, past mistakes had taught him that._

_"Yes, my Lord," Snape responded obediently._

_"Does she still trust in your allegiance to her?"_

_"I believe so, master."_

_"Then you know what you must do."_

_"I do, my Lord." Snape made a final bow to the Dark Lord before pressing his way out of the circle._

_"In the meantime we shall redouble our efforts to find him; it must be done as soon as possible, I do not want there to be any time for our enemy to prepare."_

That was the last thing that Harry heard before he sailed away from the scene and back towards consciousness.

* * *

Harry had shared his dream with Professor Dumbledore at his next Occlumency lesson but all the headmaster would say was that it was interesting. When Harry had inquired if they had any ideas who Voldemort was talking about a simple no was his answer. There were no explanations or suspicions; Dumbledore didn't even comment on the mention that Harry had taken the final step towards his power. All he did was sit in silence and watch the dream with the most curious expression. Harry had come out of Dumbledore's office feeling very annoyed about the whole situation so he decided he would do what he always did when he wanted a straight answer, he would go to Ellie. He grabbed his Pensieve from his dormitory and made his way down to her office but someone was already in there and they were having a heated debate with her. "I'm not in the mood to have this discussion right now," Ellie's voice permeated the door loudly and sternly.

"Well perhaps you would rather have it after you are dead?" hissed another low voice that Harry couldn't distinguish.

"Don't be so overdramatic," she scolded.

"He will stop at nothing to get at the boy and right now you are standing in his way!"

"And I will continue to stand in his way, I'm not going anywhere, I am going to stay right here and protect Harry," she shouted.

"Then you are leaving me little choice."

"There is always choice," she said much more calmly.

"Not when you stand in my position," the other voice said in finality. The door to Ellie's office was suddenly wrenched open and Harry stood looking at a very red faced Severus Snape. "What are you doing here?"

"He's one of my students, not to mention my cousin, so he has every right to be here." Ellie's eyes flashed warningly.

"Of course. I will speak with you later," Snape snapped before he and his billowing cloak swept out of the room.

"I'd rather you didn't," Ellie mumbled under her breath. "So, Harry, what brings you here on this lovely spring afternoon?"

"I just wanted to have a chat," Harry said casually, he didn't really want to tell her that he was probably here about the same thing that Snape was. In the end he decided to forgo telling her about his dream, he would leave that up to her grandfather; at least he was used to dealing with Ellie's temper.

"What's bothering you? Ron? Hermione? Ginny?" she asked jovially.

"None of the above, I just…wanted to get away from working," he shrugged.

"Oh, N.E.W.T work getting you down is it?" she nodded understandingly.

"Something like that," he said quietly.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Harry, you'll be fine, you just need to make sure that you don't get yourself to caught up in everything, leave that to Herimone, she deals with it better," she smiled an patted his hand in a sisterly way.

"You're right, I'm overreacting," he nodded at her.

"That's it," she said winking at him. "Oh, I meant to ask you, do you want to go home for Easter?"

"Why not?" he shrugged. It would be nice to get away from the overwhelming atmosphere of pressure that was building in the castle.

"Okay, don't forget to tell the others. Why don't you invite Neville as well?"

"That sounds like a good idea," he smiled, she really did care about everyone but herself.

"Well, that settles that then. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" she smiled at him in a very sweet way. Here was his chance, if he wanted to talk to her about his dream then now was the time to do it. He couldn't, she was glowing with happiness now that Snape was gone.

"No, everything else is fine," he lied.

"In that case I shall see you after lunch tomorrow," she winked at him before going back to a stack of parchment in front of her. He left her office feeling quite guilty about not being honest with her.

* * *

That night he had the most horrible dream that he had ever had.

He was standing on the school lawn with the sun just beginning to settle over the forbidden forest. Dark shapes were littering the grass at his feet along with a large pile of ashes; he leaned down to touch the large profile that was nearest to him, he was startled to find that it was actually a person and when he rolled them over he was horrified to find Ron's wide blue eyes staring up at him. He was dead. There were great long gashes down his face and the masses of blood that had seeped from them had now dried coating his face in a ruby veneer and matting his long hair together. Harry recoiled from the agonizing sight; there was a pain in his chest that just kept stabbing away at his heart. He fanned out through the mass of bodies on the grounds and nearly lost all his resolve to continue when he found Hermione not far from Ron. She looked like a sleeping angel, her face was also bloody but not to the same scale as Ron's, there was a large sword protruding from her chest. As he wandered around he recognized many of the battered and bruised faces of his friends and colleagues, Dean and Seamus were piled almost on top of one another and Luna's body was as stiff as a board. Neville was face first on the ground with his wand still clasped menacingly in his hand.

He fell to the ground suddenly and realized that he had tripped over something, when he looked back he recognized Ginny's delicate hand. Her eyes were wide and had a startled look, and her mouth was agape too. He put his hand up and pressed her eyelids shut. "Ginny," he whispered. He rested his forehead on her chest and began to cry. She was dead, his Ginny was gone. A sorrow like no other swept through his veins like ice and froze his heart. He had the urge to kill himself because his life wasn't worth living without her. Something, he didn't know what, compelled him to get up and keep moving, he was searching for someone. Someone that he found not two minutes after leaving Ginny. Albus Dumbledore's tall fallen figure was stretched out on the grass a little further up the hill. All the wrinkles that were usually settled in to his features were gone and he looked surprisingly relaxed, it was as though death had taken all his strains away and he was now at peace with the world around him.

"Intriguing isn't it?" Voldemort's voice rang through the air. "The way death has such wide ranging effects, not one of them looks the same." He glanced over the other corpses with disgust.

"What's going on here?" Harry asked as he straightened up.

"It's just a glance of how things will be afterwards, you will not be here to witness it but I could not deprive you of such a delightful sight, the Order of the Phoenix destroyed, Albus Dumbledore shattered, that pathetic excuse for a school in ruins," he said pointing up at the smouldering building.

"This isn't going to happen, I won't let it," Harry said resolutely.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Voldemort mocked. "You cannot stop it."

"I can and I will. So whydon't youget lost because I'm not playing your games anymore!" Harry snapped and forced himself to wake up. He was dripping with sweat and his bedcovers were twisted and drenched with his perspiration. He couldn't let that happen, he had to do everything in his power to stop it.


	31. Ron's Questions

**Ron's Questions: **The gang take a break from the castle for Easter week and the breathing space gives Ron the opportunity to ponder a few things with his friends.

Harry was grateful when the rest of March passed without any more bad dreams, his sleep hadn't settled down any but at least there were no disturbing visions contending with his studies for his attention. When they steamed their way into April the workload piled upon the seventh years doubled. Lavender Brown was taken down to the hospital wing convinced that she was having a nervous breakdown. Fifth years and seventh years could be found sitting in the common room until all hours of the day and night with their noses stuck in books and quills scratching parchment feverishly.

At the end of the first week those who were returning to their families, which accounted for a large portion of the student body, packed up some of their things and lined up for the Thestral drawn carriages that would take them down to the station. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville and Susan didn't join them; they would be taking a different method of transportation. At eleven o'clock in the morning, after all the other students had departed, they made their way down to Hagrid's hut with their trunks shrunk down to fit in their pockets. "Hullo," the half giant greeted them warmly. "I 'aven't seen yeh down here in a while," he mentioned with a sly look at them.

"Sorry, Hagrid, things have been kind of hectic," Harry explained.

"So I 'eard, yer cer'ainly 'ave a way o' findin' trouble, 'Arry," Hagrid smiled.

"I do not! The trouble follows me not the other way around!" he protested.

"I know tha'. How're the res' o' yeh doin'?" he beamed at the other five.

"Good, yeah," Ron nodded.

"I was glad ter 'ear tha' the two o' yeh made up," Hagrid winked at Ron and Hermione. "And yer lookin' migh'y fine there, Neville," he nodded at the young Longbottom.

"It's going great thanks, Professor Hagrid," Neville grinned.

"Are yeh feelin' better these days, Ginny?"

"Much, thanks for the cakes you sent up, they were delicious!" she lied effortlessly. Hagrid had baked her some of his infamous rock cakes, they were infamous because you could crack all your teeth on them. Madam Pomfrey had confiscated the large tin of cakes because she considered them to be 'dangerous to a person's health.'

"They were jus' a little somethin' to tide yeh over," he winked at her; the hospital wing's food was notoriously bad because of the matron's insistence that it be healthy. "Well, we're jus' waitin' for Liza and you lot can be off." Hagrid began pouring them some tea. They settled in around the enormous table and sipped their tea gently; they only had to wait ten minutes or so for Ellie to appear.

"Hiya, Hagrid, you doing all right?" She greeted her dear old friend with a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm fine, Liza. 'Ow abou' yeh?"

"I'm getting there," she said with a smile. "Is everyone ready?" she asked the group. They all nodded and rose from the table. "Is it all right if I borrow this," she asked Hagrid, she was holding up an oversized bucket.

" 'Course yeh can," he boomed in a tone that wondered why she'd bothered asking, he wouldn't have denied her anything.

"Thank you, _Portus_, " The bucket glowed blue for a moment. "Everybody get a finger on," she instructed.

"Make sure yeh's don't leave it too long to come an' see me when yeh's get back." Was the last thing that Hagrid said to them. When everyone was touching the bucket there was a sudden jerk and everyone was spinning their way to Potter Hall.

* * *

When they landed in the family kitchen everyone was looking at Ellie, she was considerably greener around the gills than she had been when they had departed from Hagrid's cabin. "Are you okay, Ellie?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"I'm going to be sick!" She gasped before clamping her hand over her mouth and rushing in the direction of the bathroom.

"Perhaps you should go and check on her, Charlie," Molly suggested, she was just laying out a nice spread of sandwiches on the table. It was unnecessary advice though because Charlie was already in hot pursuit of his wife. "Come here, Ginny," she suddenly instructed sternly. Ginny just rolled her eyes and went to stand beside her mother. Molly started looking over her only daughter scrupulously, she ran her fingers through Ginny;s now shoulder length hair and over her slightly paler than usual complexion. In the blink of any eye, Molly had thrown her arms around her daughter and was sobbing her shoulder.

"It's okay, Mum," Ginny promised.

"All alone for two weeks!" Molly howled.

"Mum, I'm fine and you'll be glad to know that Harry isn't going to let me out of his sight, are you, Harry?" Ginny's voice sounded oddly pitched because of the grip her mother had on her.

"That's right," Harry confirmed as he joined Arthur in the attempt to pull Molly of their daughter. Like a shot she let go of Ginny and clamped herself around Harry instead.

"You're such a good boy you know," she wailed in his ear.

"Thank you, Mum," he said as he kindly eased a hand along her back. She seemed to find this soothing because after a second or two she let go of him and spotted that Ron had Hermione were holding hands once again.

"Have you two made up?" she asked, her lips were pursed to hold back the cry of relief she was desperate to release.

"Yeah, finally came to our senses," Ron said with his ears burning red, he hated having scenes like this in front of everyone. There was no time at all until Molly had flung herself on them as well. With everybody fawned over sufficiently to allow Molly to rest easy, she returned her attention to the table. "Everybody sit down, Dobby and Winky have made us a few sandwiches," she smiled at the newcomers. The only thing was when she said 'a few sandwiches' she actually meant enough to feed Hogwarts' entire student number. After the light lunch Neville and Susan got given the guided tour of the house, they ended up taking rooms in H Wing with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"And I thought that your other house was impressive!" Neville exclaimed.

"It's the Weasley's now," Harry informed him.

"You gave them a house?" he asked in disbelief.

"Erm…yeah," Harry blushed.

"That's very generous of you, Harry," Susan complimented him.

"That's my Harry for you, generous to the core," Ginny gushed sickly as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and gave him an amorous smile.

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously. Ginny wasn't in the habit of making such mawkish remarks in front of others unless she wanted something.

"I was thinking you and me in the wine cellar in ten minutes," she whispered conspiratorially in his ear before flashing him a smile that paraded all her sparkling white teeth.

"I'll be there," he whispered back.

* * *

A couple of days in to the holiday Harry was dawdling around his room having a tidy up when there was a quiet knock at the door. "Come on in," he called. His visitor turned out to be Ron. "All right, mate?" he asked jovially.

"Um…yeah, I wondered if I could have a word?" Ron was standing very awkwardly.

"You could have several if you wanted," Harry joked but Ron just smiled strangely and nodded.

"I wanted to ask you something…" he began.

"Ask away," Harry did his best to encourage his friend who was starting to look rather ill.

"How do you know when it's true love?" Ron asked suddenly.

"What?" Harry yelled, unfortunately he had just taken a mouthful of pumpkin juice and his sudden speech had sprayed this all over Ron's face.

"How refreshing," Ron said dryly, as he drew Harry a filthy look. "I've been thinking a lot in the last few weeks and I think…no, I know that…" he paused and took a deep breath. "….that I want to ask Hermione to marry me," he said finally.

"Sorry, Ron, look can you give me a minute to go and get Ginny, I have a feeling we might need her help?"

"I suppose, if you think she'll be useful?"

"I do," Harry blurted and ran from the room. He dashed all the way down the stairs in to the library where he knew Ginny was studying with Hermione. "'Mione, I don't suppose I can borrow Ginny for a second, can I?"

"Of course you can," Hermione gave him a knowing smile she suspected that they were off to find a nice quiet corner to kiss in.

"Thanks," he said to her. He then began franticly beckoning Ginny towards him.

"What's the matter, Harry?" she asked him as he practically manhandled her up the stairs.

"We have a Ron emergency," he said urgently. She just looked at him peculiarly. "Okay, we're back," he announced as he re-entered the room. Ron was now perched on the side of the bed. "You can ask your question again." Ron gave Ginny a highly dubious look but tried again all the same.

"How do you know when it's true love?" he asked again patiently. Ginny made a little noise and clutched her hand to her chest.

"The second you start wondering if its true love. Oh, Ron," she cried and seized her brother around the neck.

"What do you reckon, Harry?" Ron inquired as though Ginny's assertion wasn't proof enough.

"I'd say that you know it's true love when… you can't think of anybody else but her… when you want to spend every possible moment next to her… and when you can't possibly imagine being with anybody else," Harry said after a long moment of consideration. Ron looked slightly more appeased by this answer.

"My next question is how do you tell her?" This question was most definitely directed at Harry. He suddenly felt very beleaguered because Ginny was gazing at him intently as well.

"I'd go for the direct approach, look her in the eye and tell her that you love her," he smiled at Ginny, who grinned right back.

"Is it really that simple?" Ron asked Ginny this one.

"As long as you look her in the eye and mean it then, yes it is." She patted her brother's shoulder lightly; he was so adorable when he was vulnerable.

"Last question, what's the best way to propose to Hermione?" Ron asked the fireplace. He couldn't look at their faces, he was too afraid of what he might see there.

"Get her somewhere that she loves and tell her how you feel…" Ginny advised.

"Use details, tell her everything about it," Harry added.

"Then just look her right in the eye and say…"

"Ginny, I love you, will you marry me?" Harry said. Ron suddenly looked at Harry wide-eyed.

"Yes," Ginny replied. She was gazing at Harry with tear filled eyes. She couldn't believe that he'd actually just said that.

"Hermione! I meant you say Hermione, I love you, will you marry me?" Harry covered for himself quickly. His brain hadn't quite registered her answer. "Yes?" he gulped.

"Yes," she said more firmly.

"Do you mean it? Do you really want to marry me?" He was astounded, surely she couldn't really be saying yes. He thought about the moment a couple of weeks ago when he had been ready to ask her that very question and had got interrupted, everything had been so planned then, he had worked out every single word that was going to leave his mouth. Now he had asked by accident, he had meant to say Hermione but he'd been looking at Ginny at the time and poof! Out it came.

"Of course I do! Oh, Harry," she cried and threw herself on her boyfriends chest; she was sobbing tears of joy.

"Wow, I can't believe we're getting married," Harry gasped in to her hair.

"First of all, you were supposed to be helping me with my proposal, not making one to my kid sister," said Ron's angry voice. Harry looked up from Ginny's flaming locks to see that although Ron's voice was irate he was grinning widely at the pair. "Secondly, you're not getting married. Unless I'm much mistaken, you haven't asked for permission yet!" he gave Harry a stern finger shake but accompanied it with a jovial wink.

"Dad practically gave him permission at Christmas!" Ginny reminded him.

"Practically giving and actually giving are two different things; you'll need to ask him before you do anything else," Ron said, he watched with pleasure as Harry's smile faltered for a second. Asking Mr. Weasley to marry Ginny would mean that the whole family would find out and that meant that all those Weasley brothers would know. What would they do to him?

"Okay, you make a fair point about the permission thing but I think you'll find that we just gave you plenty of help with how to propose to Hermione," Harry smiled at his friend.

"I suppose," Ron grumbled; he didn't like being outsmarted.

"When are you going to do it?" Ginny asked.

"I really don't know," he said with a suddenly nervous voice. Now that he had discussed this with them he couldn't back out of it. "When's the best time to ask a girl to marry you?" he asked Harry with a grin.

"When she's least expecting it," Harry answered and kissed Ginny's forehead.

"Promise you'll let us know when you decide?" Ginny smiled, he nodded as she gave him a final pat on the back. "Is that all you needed me for?" she asked Harry with a pout.

"For now," he smiled.

"Well, you know where I'll be when you've finally bucked up the courage to speak to my dad." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran the whole way back to the library. "Hermione, you'll never guess what just happened!" she squealed.


	32. NEWT's

**N.E.W.T**: The gang finally get to sit those pesky N.E.W.T exams and prepare for the future.

Once they arrived back at school after the Easter Holidays April quickly became May and May hastily became a blur. One minute it was the first the next it was Friday the twenty-ninth and they were having their last day of classes before the exams began. Each teacher was taking the opportunity to reassure their students that they would be fine and that no one would fail, although some did a better job of this than others. Snape's parting words to his seventh year Potions class were, "I shall be most grateful that I never have to lay eyes on most of you ever again. You have been mediocre at best and these examinations will no doubt prove you all to be incompetent in the science of Potion making. For those of you who do pass do not congratulate yourselves too much, there is always room for improvement. Goodbye." With that he stormed out of his dungeon without another word.

"Do you get the impression that he doesn't like us?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"No, I get the impression that not only does he not like us but he's in a fouler mood than usual," Harry responded.

"You don't really think we're all going to fail, do you?" Hermione begged urgently as she snatched the front of Ron's robes.

"Hermione, if you get anything less than an E on this exam I'll eat my cauldron," Ron said seriously as he prised his girlfriends fingers from the place where she was gouging holes in the material with her fingernails.

"But Professor Snape said that we're mediocre and that isn't good enough to pass!" Hermione panicked, she was beginning to pant in anxiety.

"He only said that to put us off, you know what he's like. Besides it's not him that marks the exams anyway and I find it very hard to believe that anyone is going to find your potion work mediocre, Hermione, how many times do we have to say this? YOU'RE THE BEST IN OUR YEAR," Ron said slowly with emphatic hand gestures.

"Listen to Ron, 'Mione, for once he actually knows what he's talking about," Harry grinned.

"Shut it you!" Ron growled with half a laugh.

"Merlin, look at the time! We're going to be late for Transfiguration!" Hermione squealed and tore from the dungeon. Hurricane Hermione sped her way through the crowded corridors to find that she was much mistaken. They weren't late for Transfiguration at all; they were just in time. Professor McGonagall's words weren't that much more comforting than Snape's had been.

"While I believe that each of you is more than capable of passing these exams that does not mean that you can sit back and relax. If you want to pass with acceptable grades then you must ensure that you put as much work in to the revision that you are all doubtlessly going to do over the weekend, as you have to your tasks over the course of this year. I know you are all disheartened because none of you have been able to make the full transition in to your Animagi form but I would ask you to not let this cloud your view of the other things you have learned this year. There is no reason why anyone should fail this class, but if you have not put in the effort required then it will show in your answers and will subsequently gain you a lower mark. I would like to warn you all that we are entitled to hold students back a year and if anyone does do so abysmally in their exams we will be seeing you again next year. I hope that isn't the case with this year group, it's been nearly seventeen years since I've had to hold back a student, I would like to make it eighteen but you just never know. Now today we will be doing some general revision…" McGonagall then launched in to a long discourse about what areas she thought they needed to work on and they set about practicing.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were thankful when they reached the final lesson of the day Defence Against the Dark Arts was always guaranteed to put a smile on you face. "Well, hello there my dearly beloved seventh years. How are my favourite class?" she asked exuberantly. A rumble of tired, 'Fine, Professor,' rolled around the room. "You poor things, they've not been over working you today, have they?" she laughed. Everyone just groaned. "Well, you'll be pleased to know that I have nothing to teach you!" she announced.

"WHAT?" screamed Hermione. The bushy-haired girl had nearly fainted with shock. "It's the last lesson before the exams. You have to teach us!"

"Hermione, if you haven't learned it all already then it doesn't matter what I say right now, because you're not going to learn it in time for the exam," Ellie spoke kindly and calmly to the girl in front of her.

"But I don't think I've learned it all!" Hermione appeared to be having yet another panic attack.

"Hermione," Ellie's tone was now firm. "You are the brightest witch in this classroom and in this school. You have consistently performed exceptionally well on the written tasks and the in class practicals. You have nothing to worry about. You could pass this exam with both your hands tied behind your back."

"That's impossible!" Hermione replied.

"Indeed it is not! You're so clever that you'd probably find a way to get yourself out of the ties," Ellie smiled. They rest of the class laughed, including Harry, Ron and Neville who now had an image of Hermione hopping around the Great Hall with her arms and legs tied together and her quill in her mouth. "I would be extremely surprised if any one of you manages to fail. You've all worked exceptionally hard and you know your stuff. You'll all be fine, I know it."

"Another one of your feelings is it?" Harry piped up.

"They haven't lead me wrong yet, Harry," she scolded. "I'm afraid that I do have to keep you in class until our time is up, feel free to do whatever you like, whether that's chat, play hangman or even just get some sleep. By the way, Hannah, it looks like you could use some shut eye. There's a nice comfy book over there that you could use as a pillow," she told Hannah Abbott helpfully. "So, do what you like!" It was undoubtedly the best lesson that they'd ever had.

* * *

The examiners arrived just before dinner on the thirty-first as they did every year; Madam Marchbanks was as stooping as ever and looked like she had acquired more cobwebs since Harry had last seen her. Everything was kept fairly simple for Ron and Harry, they had five exams and five days. They had their written papers in the morning and their practicals in the afternoon, Hermione's timetable was slightly more complicated. On Tuesday and Thursday she was sitting her other two exams in the middle of the ones she was sitting with Ron and Harry. The first exam they had to face was Transfiguration. Harry smiled widely when the first question was a rather simple, 'Explain the method, through which, a human being may transform his or herself in to an animal.'

On the way out of the two-hour assessment Hermione began her usual dissection. By the time they were back in the tower Ron and Harry had practically been forced to recite all their answers back to her word for word. She was of course convinced that there was something she hadn't mentioned and that she had failed miserably. After a spot of light lunch they all gathered in the small chamber of the hall to wait for their turn to be tested practically. Harry's examiner this time was a rather short and springy looking witch, who seemed to be delighted that she had been asked to examine them all. There was a Raven sitting on a perch in front of her, she smiled at Harry excitedly and said "Turn this in to a racoon please, Mr. Potter." Several transfigurations later and Harry was fairly certain that he had passed, even though he had set fire to a log he was trying to turn in to a table.

The next morning it was time for the Potions test, Harry sat at his desk with his quill poised above the parchment question paper, the first couple of questions were tough ones but he nearly jumped out of his seat with delight when he got to the third one. 'What are the effects of a Wolfsbane Potion?' with an image of a peaceful, sleeping Remus swimming around his head Harry started scribbling everything he knew about the potion on to the paper. When they got outside Harry and Ron breathed a sigh of relief. "That wasn't too bad," Ron said as he inhaled the fresh summer air deeply.

"Not too bad? I didn't have nearly enough time for everything that I wanted to say!" Hermione complained.

"That's because you write too much," Ron whispered under his breath, luckily Hermione didn't hear him.

"I've got to go and get ready for my Ancient Runes paper; I'll see you this afternoon." She gave Ron a rushed kiss on the cheek and hurried away back in to the building.

"She's nuts!" Harry exclaimed.

"That's why I love her." Ron smiled at the retreating figure of his girlfriend.

"A little bit of advice for you, mate, don't mention that when you get around to proposing," Harry laughed.

During the Potions practical the seventh years were asked to make the love potion Amortentia and also Felix Felicis, Harry wasn't sure that either of them were anywhere near perfect but it was the best that he could do, Snape had picked just about the two most difficult potions possible. The next morning it was time for Charms. The written exam asked for the effects of the Bubble Head and Disillusionment Charms, Harry had smiled to himself and remembered a time two years ago when Mad-Eye had rapped him on the head with his wand and it felt like he'd smashed an egg on Harry's head. In the practical students were asked to conjure birds and also to demonstrate the Bubble Head Charm.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts exam on the Thursday was a walk in the park; Harry could tell that the exam had been written with him, Ron and Hermione in mind. They were asked to 'Explain, in detail, the method of the Patronus Charm and further describe the effects.' After that there was a question all about werewolves, another about banshees and the final question had been about the Fidelius Charm. When the practical came it was fairly easy, he was asked to conjure a patronus, something he'd been able to do for years, and then a succession of shields and his final task was to perform some simple attacks. Overall the day had gone extremely well and Harry was very confident that he might just have got himself an E, if not and O.

The final exam was Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures one, he had set a reasonably difficult paper that asked for descriptions of Dugbogs and the best way to feed and care for Unicorns. The practical called for them to extract a vial of bile from an Armadillo, a task that was quite difficult considering how much they liked to scarper away and the fact that they hated being milked for the bile. It was a relieved Harry and Ron who returned to the tower that night. "Well, Harry, congratulations, mate, we made it," Ron held out his hand for Harry to shake. He took it sportingly and shook it vigorously.

"I can't believe that was it, I mean they kept telling us that these were the most difficult exams we'd ever sit but it all felt all right, didn't it?"

"I think they were just making it up to make sure that we worked hard," Ron said.

"Probably, they're sneaky like that," Harry smiled as Ginny came jumping in to the common room with some of her sixth year cohorts.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Altogether? Not too bad at all really," Harry answered.

"Good, now that it's all over do you think you might be up to spending sometime with your girlfriend instead of a book?" she gave him a playful scolding look.

"I'm sure I can manage that," he winked at her.

"Well if you two are going to be all over each other then I'm going to find Hermione," Ron looked at the pair of them disgustedly.

"Try the library," Ginny suggested.

"The library? But we've just finished the exams, why does she need to go to the library? That girl, I swear…" Ron bristled on his way out of the common room.

* * *

"What are you doing in here, 'Mione?" Ron whispered as he plonked himself next to her at a table in the library.

"I just had a bit of a headache and I know how noisy the common room is going to be right now," she answered as her fingers massaged her temple.

"It is a bit boisterous in there. I bet I've got something that can make your headache go away," he mumbled in her ear.

"Really and what would that be?" she asked with a weak smile.

"Come over here and I'll show you," he teased. He gently pulled her away from the table and up one of the rows of bookshelves that was a good bit away from Madam Pince's desk. The second that they were hidden by the tall bookcases he planted a strong loving kiss on her lips. "How does your headache feel now?"

"A little bit better but there's still a long way to go," she reached a hand up to his neck to tempt him in to another kiss; he happily obliged.

"How about now?"

"Still not gone," she smiled.

"I'll have to try harder then won't I?" he smirked and urged her further along the row and back up against the wall at the end. When he pulled away he asked her one final time. "Is it gone yet?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

"Good, there's something that I want to tell you," the jitters worked their way up from his belly in to his throat.

"What it is?" Hermione wondered if this was it. Ginny had warned her during Easter that Ron had been asking what the younger girl would only refer to as 'special questions,' she had her suspicions as to exactly what those questions were about and she thought she was about to find out for definite. She nearly screamed in delight when Ron kneeled down in front of her.

"Hermione, I want you to know that you mean the world to me. I think about you all the time and I can't think of anyone else that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. In the months we were arguing I was lost without you, I was looking for you in those other girls but I realized that you weren't there. You're the only on of you that there is and I never wanted to lose you again. I know that you promised me that I wouldn't but a promise isn't enough I want more. I love you, 'Mione, and I want to know if you'll marry me?" He looked up at her expectantly with eyes that were so full of adoration that Hermione knew there was only one thing that she could say.

"Of course I'll marry you!" she squeaked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple little black box, he opened it to reveal a simple ring with a sapphire stone set on to it, nestled in the middle of a red velvet cushion. It wasn't extravagant and costly but it was understated in a very beautiful way. He slipped it on to her finger and she gazed at it for a moment, she was a future Mrs. Weasley.


	33. Attempt on Hogwarts

**Attempt on Hogwarts:** Voldemort brings the fight to the Order and someone makes a big sacrifice.

News of Ron's proposal whipped around the castle like wild fire, by the next morning everyone one knew that the Head Boy and Girl had gotten engaged. Ellie had come over all Molly-like and actually burst into tears while she was congratulating the pair. Harry and Ginny were as pleased as punch for their two friends, who couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. Professor Dumbledore had even provided his good wishes during a speech at dinner the following evening. Everything was working out so well for Harry and his friends.

It was the middle of the final week of term that Harry had another vision of Voldemort. This time he was seeing through Voldemort's eyes. He was sat in a large room with walls made of rough stone, there was little furniture in the room but that which was had a very princely feel to it. There were sideboards made from rich mahogany and trimmed with polished brass fittings and the chair he was sitting in had plump forest green cushioning. There were three men in front of him with their heads bowed, Harry could make out one of them as Snape but he didn't recognize the other two. "I hope that you are bringing good news," Voldemort said in what was almost a bored tone. But Harry was well aware that boredom was never a good thing when it came to the Dark Lord.

"We have located the man, my Lord, we expect that he shall be delivered here within days," one man said eagerly.

"You will ensure that he is transported here as soon as possible, I wish to get our proceedings underway before the school year is out, otherwise all our planning will have been for nothing. Severus, what news do you have?"

"I'm afraid that my task has been much more difficult than I had first perceived, the girl will not yield the information that we need, master," Snape said apologetically.

"You have tried all approaches possible?"

"All that can be conducted without risk of detection. At first I attempted to gain her trust but she trusts no-one outside of that wretched family, I added several drops of Veritaserum to a Soothing Solution that I delivered to her during her recent illness…"

"She has been unwell?"

"Yes, my Lord, she has been suffering from an irritation in her stomach," Snape enlightened his master.

"Very well, continue."

"I even made an attempt at Legilimency but her defences are strong, he grandfather has undoubtedly taught her well." There was a tiny hint of pride in Snape's subservient voice, Harry detected it but apparently Voldemort did not because he ignored it completely.

"Yes, the old fool would have made sure that she didn't fall victim to mental attacks, her mind holds too much valuable information," Voldemort said jealously. Harry could sense the resentment building within the world's most evil wizard. He laughed a little, if only Ellie could know that Voldemort was jealous of her.

"Valuable information?" asked the third man who had not previously spoken.

"Yes, she knows the entire contents of the prophecy, she knows everything about the boy - his strengths and weakness, and she knows every move that the Order of the Phoenix make. I would imagine that there is very little that her grandfather knows that she does not, she is widely recognised as his favourite confidant. He is overly sentimental in that respect." He elaborated with revulsion. "Vulnerability is not an option as far as she is concerned."

"I will keep trying, master," Snape assured him.

"I expected no less of you, Severus, I must admit that I had my doubts about you for some time but I have been very pleased with the work you have done in recent times, you have served me well and when the time comes you shall receive your reward."

"I live to serve only you, my Lord," Snape said as he bowed his head obediently.

"Good," Voldemort replied.

After this their voices grew faint and Harry felt himself withdrawing from Voldemort's mind and back in to his own body. So his adversary was almost ready, a fierce debate began in Harry's mind, should he tell Dumbledore? The last time he had shared his dream with the headmaster it had left them with an unnerving situation because nobody seemed to know whom this person was. Surely if they were important then the Order would know who they were? Maybe Voldemort was mistaken about this person's importance. He knew he was just fooling himself on this point and decided that he would speak to Dumbledore in the morning.

* * *

The castle was quiet this morning. The beautiful summer sun was blazing its way across the grounds and the students were taking the opportunity to laze on the sun-drenched shore of the lake and the school's front lawn. Without the mass of students and the flurry of movement the castle's exquisite beauty shone almost as brightly as the sun that was beating down on it. The walls that had withstood a thousand years of teenage trauma still stood as proudly and solidly as the day that they were built. It was as though each student who had passed down these halls had left a little piece of him or herself buzzing inside the bricks. There was a thousand years of blood, sweat and tears flowing through these corridors but you hardly ever noticed. It gave the building a majestic aura, its very own life and soul.

The gargoyles that stood guard over the headmaster's office slid apart silently for him when he gave the password. He found Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk deep in thought. "Good morning, Harry. How are you?"

"Feeling a little bit better now that the exams are over," Harry replied.

"So what is it that brings you to my office on such a charming day when you should be outside with your classmates enjoying the wonderful weather?"

"I had a dream last night that I thought you should see." He placed his Pensieve on the desk in front of the headmaster.

"You have concerns about its contents?" Dumbledore asked.

"Very big concerns," Harry answered. He pulled his memory from his temple and deposited it in the stone basin, he gave it a prod and it began to swirl. As the dream progressed Dumbledore watched it with an expression that Harry couldn't work out. "What are you thinking?" Harry could see the older man's mind whirring as clearly as if it had been a Sneak-o-scope spinning above his head.

"The urgency with which Voldemort wants his plans conducted troubles me. The assertion that it is carried out before the school year ends raises concerns that whatever he is planning relates to the school or the students. We may have to arrange alternate transportation for them; I will not have pupils put in any kind of danger. We have no further clues as to whom this mystery person is, Professor Snape has asked all the questions that he can without looking suspect but outside of the followers actually involved in the task no one knows who they are looking for."

"Isn't there anything else that we can do?" Harry asked with frustration.

"Not at the moment, I will ask for increased security around the castle and will check with my sources again but for now that is all I can do. We all must be on our guard. Do you wish to discuss anything else?"

"No, sir," Harry replied, he was deep in thought.

"I think perhaps the time is right to do away with the sir's and Professor Dumbledore's. By the end of this week you will no longer be my student and I would entreat you to call me Albus," Professor Dumbledore smiled.

"I have a feeling I'll be your student for a long while yet, sir…Albus," he said after a slightly reproachful glance from the man before him.

"I thank you, Harry, I am very flattered." For the first time in Harry's memory, Albus Dumbledore blushed; his wrinkly cheeks suddenly developed a little pink flush.

"It's just the truth," Harry shrugged.

* * *

Harry wasn't really able to enjoy the last few days of school with an imminent threat hanging over the place. He found himself watching the other students with interest. Every time a random face passed them he wondered if that person would get home safe? Would they have a home to go to? Would there be a warm family to welcome them? Or had they already been torn apart by Voldemort's wicked doings?

When he began to pack his things he was overcome with a strong fit of depression. He stared at the room; this had been his home for seven long years. Both wonderful and terrible things had happened in here; he had shared his first kiss with Ginny on this very spot. It seemed so strange to think that there was life outside of this dormitory, outside of this school even. This was the place where his hope and faith resided, kept and cared for within these ancient walls. What did life hold for him in the wider world? Where did he go from here?

He, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were on their way to lunch on the final day of term when a loud uproar out on the grounds attracted their attention; they were curious to see what was causing so much of a fuss and headed for the front doors. Outside people were scattering in all directions, they were running and screaming their way back to the castle. Harry didn't understand what was going on until Neville ran up the entrance steps to meet him with an ashen face. He pointed over the grounds and down to the gates that separated Hogwarts from the wilderness beyond, there. Surrounded by fifty or more Death Eaters, was Lord Voldemort and he appeared to be opening the gates.

* * *

Harry stood completely stunned on the top stair staring down at the group gathered by the entranceway. Voldemort was watching gleefully as the gates swung open easily and granted him entry to the grounds. The only thing that Harry could think was, how? He followed the rest of the students who were filing past him back in to the safety of the castle, the prefects and now Ron and Hermione were herding everyone into the Great Hall. "What is the meaning of all this?" Professor McGonagall asked as she came storming up the corridor from her office, she was watching the hysterical students before her with confusion.

"Voldemort's on his way up to the castle, we need Dumbledore!" Harry told her without delay.

"I assure you, Mr. Potter, that it is quite impossible for Voldemort to breech the Hogwarts' security measures. We have better defences than the Ministry of Magic!" she replied.

"Is that so?" he asked harshly, he grasped her hand and pulled her towards the main doors. She nearly screamed in fright when she realised that Voldemort and his associates were marching up the driveway.

"Help me get these doors closed," she yelled with the utmost urgency. When the doors had been pushed shut she pointed her wand at them and said 'Prohibeo Ostium.' "Mr. Weasley, go for the headmaster at once!"

"That will not be necessary, Minerva," said Dumbledore's calm and soothing voice.

"Albus!" she yelled in surprise. "V-voldemort is within the grounds!"

"I am aware of that; I was able to see from my window. Let us get everyone in to the Great Hall. The castle doors will keep them out for a time." Harry couldn't believe how unconcerned Dumbledore appeared to be. Within five minutes Voldemort would be standing on the front steps.

"May I have everyone's attention please!" the headmaster's authoritative voice reverberated off the walls in the Great Hall and silenced the hundreds of students within it who were, crying, screaming and just generally in a state of great distress. "As those of you who were out on the grounds will know Lord Voldemort has gained entry to the school and is on his way up here with a collection of Death Eaters. There is no need for panic; if we are to expel them we must have our wits about us. Could all members of Dumbledore's Army please step forward into a line at the front." Dumbledore looked around the crowd carefully and found fear in almost every face he met, with the exception of the forty students that now stood in an untidy line in front of him.

"Harry, would you please pick twenty students to fight along side us?" Dumbledore asked him firmly. Harry was quite surprised by this, he had expected that when the time came all of the DA would be out doing the fighting. He picked out the twenty strongest fighters from the group, amongst which were, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Susan. The other twenty didn't look at all happy about being left behind.

"Thank you, Harry. All first and second year students will remain in the hall with the prefects who are not part of the Army, kindly separate yourselves from the crowd and move towards the staff table. Ms. Patil," Dumbledore beckoned Parvati forward. "I would like you to lead a group of twenty students up to the top of the North Tower, I wish you to conduct an attack on our assailants from there. Do you understand?" Parvati nodded. "Good, you will take these students, off you go." Dumbledore counted off twenty students that were nearby. He then moved down the line assigning groups of various sizes to each remaining member of the DA, he then sent them off to various points in the castle where they were either to prevent entry or begin attacking. "Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Reddo and Professor Weasley will remain with the students in the hall…"

"No I bloody will not!" Ellie bellowed in fury.

"Do as you are told, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said firmly.

"I don't think so! I am not staying in here when Voldemort is out there!"

"YOU WILL REMAIN IN THE CASTLE!" It was the first time that Harry had ever heard Dumbledore shout at anyone angrily and the first time that a majority of the students had heard him raise his voice anything above his usual soft-spoken tone.

"I AM COMING WITH YOU!" She yelled back equally furious.

"YOU ARE NOT COMING!" Everything about the headmaster conveyed the message that this was not up for discussion, he had a hard look in his eyes and his mouth was set.

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Ellie said in a quiet and unsettlingly dangerous voice: she pulled out her wand and pointed it straight at her grandfather. Dumbledore seemed to consider this for a moment.

"Have I ever been able to stop you from doing what you have wanted to do?" he said quietly.

"Never. That will not change now, I am coming with you, I am going to fight and if I die so be it." The resemblance between Ellie and her grandfather really was quite startling, they both had long flowing hair, long faces, almond shaped eyes and the same set jaw line. Everyone watched the pair like they were watching a tennis match, their heads whipped back and forwards as each made their case.

"I suppose I cannot stop you," Dumbledore said sadly as he resigned himself to the fact that she was going into the fray.

"I would not advise you to try," Ellie flicked her wand dangerously. Harry was intrigued; would she really duel with her grandfather just to be allowed out to the battle?

"Headmaster, I would like to protest against this decision. It would be better if Professor Weasley were to stay within the confines of the castle," Snape said.

"Be quiet, Severus, you're just afraid that you'll be asked to die for me. Don't worry I have no intentions of getting myself killed!" Ellie snapped.

"Nobody ever does when they go in to battle with the Dark Lord!" Snape reasoned.

"My mother saved your life, Severus, but I would be more than wiling to take it away!" Ellie had always played her cards close to her chest as far as her relationship with Snape was concerned. She didn't like him particularly but she knew that her grandfather trusted him and she knew what had happened between her mother and Snape, she didn't like it but she knew of it none the less.

"By all means do so whenever you feel the need!" Snape was starting to swell with rage.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? It'd get you out of that little hole you've dug for yourself!"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore hollered above their din. With the angry voices absent, a loud knocking could be heard. It was coming from the castle's front doors. If the whole situation hadn't been so worrying then Harry would have found it highly amusing that Voldemort had ambled his way up to the school and was now calmly knocking on the front door. Did he expect to be invited in for tea and biscuits?

The headmaster ushered those who were about to go in to the battle out in to the entrance hall, he sealed the Great Halls doors as they went. He then unlocked the front doors, pulled them open to reveal the swarm of waiting Death Eaters and said coolly, "Hello, Tom."

* * *

"Dumbledore, so nice to see you again," Voldemort said with false pleasantness.

"I must admit to being impressed, Tom. How did you manage to break through the defence shields that had been erected?"

"Your problem has always been that you put too much faith in the old and not enough effort into the new. Did you honestly believe that those barriers that that incompetent Everard put up, would last?"

"Watch who you're calling incompetent," Ellie warned him precariously.

"Of course, you are his - what is it again? – Great, great, great granddaughter?" Voldemort was smiling at her in a horribly victorious way.

"It is and I'll thank you to not insult my family," she snapped.

"It was you who gave me the idea," he smiled and paused for a moment to allow this information to sink in. "One of my faithful servants witnessed you Apparating within the castle when it is widely acknowledged to be impossible because of the wards. That set my thoughts in motion. Why could you move like that when the supposedly great Albus Dumbledore could not? Once all other options were exhausted it became quite apparent that your heritage was the source of this unusual power. It was then that I knew what I had to do; I had to find someone else with Everard's blood running through his or her veins. Unfortunately I found that after five generations the blood dilutes to such an extent that it is impossible to use it for the purposes that I needed. I had to go back along the lines until I found one surviving member, he is a distant cousin of yours," he mentioned in passing to Ellie. "Unfortunately he was so useful that he ended up dead."

"You perhaps infused his blood with yours?" Dumbledore enquired lightly; as though blood infusion was something he discussed with Dark Wizards every day.

"Indeed I did and as you can see my plan worked very well, I was able to access the grounds with relative ease." Voldemort gave them one of his nauseating, self-appreciative smiles. "You have acquired quite a motley crew for yourself, Dumbledore, employing children as warriors are we?"

"These children have witness more than any others before them and are up to any challenge that you can pose them," Dumbledore said firmly.

"We'll soon see about that, shall we begin the proceedings?"

"By all means."

* * *

Unlike encounters that had gone before it this one was strangely ordered. It was as though both sides had known exactly what was coming and had decided to shake hands and say 'May the best man win.' Things had begun with just Dumbledore and Voldemort duelling and everyone else watching, then slowly but surely people began to join in and curses were flying through the air in both directions. Dumbledore's declaration that his students were up to the challenge that Voldemort had set was proving to be true. So far nobody had been hit with anything that they couldn't deflect or counter act. This changed when Voldemort managed to catch his old teacher's right arm with a spell that was unknown to Harry. Instantly Dumbledore's wand hand shrivelled, turned black and his wand dropped to the floor. Finding his enemy defenceless Voldemort caught the old wizard with a strong Stunning Spell. Ellie immediately stepped into her grandfather's place. "Dear, Elizabeth, how long we have waited to duel properly. I believe I will enjoy this," Voldemort's voice dripped with menace.

Their intense fighting continued for over twenty minutes and Ginny's sharp scream as she was hit in the arm by a Severing Charm was what finally drew Ellie's attention away from her own attacker and that was when Voldemort stole the moment and threw a Disarming Spell at her. "Finally you will be mine!" he hissed triumphantly. He pointed his wand at her and called, "Sectumsempera!" Bright silver light erupted from his wand and shot towards her, however, it wasn't Ellie it hit, it was Snape.

The second he had seen that Ellie was wandless Snape rushed forwards and place himself in the line of fire, he knew what that spell was, he knew what it would do to him but he had to do it all the same. When the spell connected long cuts began erupting all over his body, within seconds his robes were soaked in blood. He stumbled backwards and fell; Ellie caught him before he hit the ground but buckled under his weight. He looked up at the beautiful brown eyes of her mother and whispered to her. "It is done, Jane, I have kept my promise." His eyes closed and the last seconds of Severus Snape's life seeped into the grass below him along with his last drop of blood.


	34. A Golden Phoenix

**A Golden Phoenix: **The battle for Hogwarts continues to rage, who will be the next to die?

"Severus?" Ellie called quietly. She shook his limp body gently. "Severus, say something," she urged.

"I see now that I have been very foolish to trust him, the traitor was loyal to you all along. Unfortunately for you it doesn't much matter anymore," Voldemort said exultantly.

"I beg to differ," said Dumbledore. Someone had obviously removed the Stunning Spell that had rendered him motionless as his Potions master died.

"Back for more are we, old man? I wonder how much more you can take, that arm of yours isn't looking very good."

"It is good enough, Tom," Dumbledore replied coolly.

"Stop calling me that!" the former Hogwarts pupil spat.

"But it is your name, you are and always will be Tom Riddle."

"I am not! I am Lord Voldemort!" he shouted, a shower of green sparks burst from the end of his wand in frustration.

"No, Voldemort is the name that you have fashioned for yourself in order to hide from who you truly are but you cannot hide for long, both you and I know that the time is coming."

"You still believe in the boy don't you? How can you possibly think that a powerless adolescent like him could ever destroy me when not even you can achieve that?" There was a note of scepticism in the vile man's voice that connected with Harry; that was a question that he had been trying to answer for two years now.

"It appears you have forgotten the fact that he came very close to defeating you when he was just a baby, when he had no power at all. The question then becomes what could he do to you now that his powers have developed?"

"Nothing, he has encountered me twice in recent years and has escaped purely through a mixture of luck and your mollycoddling, we have been delaying the inevitable," Voldemort cackled.

"I disagree," Dumbledore said matter-of-factly. His belief in his decision was clear to all.

"Enough of this pathetic banter. I want to dispose of you and move on to the boy!" he snapped.

"As you wish." The two once again started firing spells at each other.

No one really had time to stop and watch the scene that was unfolding between the two men because they were all pre-occupied with their own conflicts. Ginny was faring relatively well with someone who sounded like Bellatrix Lestrange, while Hermione was just beyond her battling with another witch who was the same height and build as Narcissa Malfoy. Harry could just see Ron out of the corner of his right eye; he was struggling with a very large Death Eater whose outline Harry didn't recognise. All the teachers were engaged in battle as well, Professor McGonagall was fighting two opponents at once and Professor Flitwick was in the process of beating back his attacker. Ellie had reclaimed her wand but wasn't able to use it to do more than maintain the defensive shield that she had put up, she was currently try to withstand the onslaught of four Death Eaters. Another group of Voldemort's followers were attempting to gain entry to the castle and were being picked off by a co-ordinated attack from the towers on either side of the front doors. The North and South towers had synchronized their assaults so that one tower was raining hexes upon the enemy and before their adversary had the opportunity to start firing curses up at them the other tower would begin another attack. So far it had kept the group of Death Eaters from entering the building, which had been Dumbledore's intention when he had separated the students in to groups.

There was a great thundering noise and in the blink of an eye the herd of centaurs that occupied the Forbidden Forest had galloped into the fray. The powerful creatures began trampling over the men and women who dare to try and destroy their home. The extra help was welcome as several members of the D. A had fallen, Luna was lying unmoving near the front steps and Susan was limping as she tried to scramble away from her attacker. Neville was down near the edge of the forbidden forest and showing the distracted world that he had most definitely inherited his mother and father's prowess for holding off Dark Wizards, he was darting in and out of the trees not only with speed but also with skill. Dean was sitting on the bank of the lake awkwardly while Seamus did his best to protect them both from two different Death Eaters. Justin Finch Fletchley had been stunned, along with Hannah Abbott and Ernie MacMillan.

The shield Ellie was holding up finally gave way when a sixth Death Eater joined the number that was attacking her. One of them hit her with a Reductor Curse and she soared through the air straight in to her grandfather, narrowly missing the Blasting Curse that had been fired at him a second before. Dumbledore was able to disentangle himself from her and stand but it was too late. By the time he had returned to his full height Voldemort's Killing Curse was already half way to him. There was nothing that anybody could have done to prevent what happened. Ellie tried in vain to pull her surviving grandfather down out of the curse's path but it was to no avail. Dumbledore took the green blast to the chest and fell sideways on to the ground. The greatest wizard who had ever lived was dead.

* * *

"No!" Ellie screamed. She reached over and grabbed the front of Dumbledore's robes, she began to shake him, but not gently like she had with Snape, this was forceful almost violent shaking. She seemed determined that she could rattle his extinguished flame of life back in to existence. She released her grip on his robes and his lifeless body dropped back to the ground heavily. Her small and delicate hand reached out to touch his still warm cheeks; he looked as though he was in a deep and pleasant slumber. Finally the wave of emotion overcame her; her barriers were crushed under the despair of a life filled with loss. Throughout her life he had been her beacon of hope, she had believed him to be indestructible because no matter what happened he was always there to save the day. Without him here how could life possibly go on? Why were the birds still singing? Why was the sun still shining and the grass still growing? Didn't they feel the hurt, pain and anguish flowing from her? How could one human being hurt so much without dying?

Slowly everyone realized what had happened. They stood still looking at the spot where Dumbledore had fallen and where his last grandchild knelt sobbing uncontrollably into his chest. Voldemort was as astonished as the rest of them, he was staring at his wand and then at Dumbledore's body like he couldn't quite believe his luck. There was a loud rumbling and everyone looked up to see that the Order had arrived at last. Remus, Bill, Charlie, Kingsley, Mad-Eye, Tonk, and dozens of other assorted Order members and Aurors were racing up the hill with their wands out. They didn't hesitate to enter the battle along with everyone else. Ellie continued to cry into Dumbledore's dead body.

"Come, Elizabeth, I have just killed your grandfather, aren't you going to punish me for it?" Voldemort taunted her mercilessly. That was the moment that Ellie lost all control. The strange atmosphere, that Harry had only ever seen rise up around her once before, manifested itself again. This time, however, it wasn't so much as an aura as it was fire; she appeared to be a ball of golden flame.

"You'll pay for that, Riddle!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She advanced on Voldemort with her wand out and blasted every curse, hex and jinx that she could think of at him. He was able to deflect most of them, in the heat of her passion her aim wasn't very accurate and a good number of them missed their target, although not by very much. Voldemort simply cackled at her.

"Tut, tut, I expected more of you, instead you insist on attacking me with juvenile curses. Is this the best that you can do?" he laughed manically.

"Ellie, stop!" Harry urged. He had finally dealt with his assailant using a well-placed Blasting Curse.

"Does Potter want to try his luck? Think you're ready do you?" There was a dangerous gleam in his slit red eyes.

"I think it's about time I did, don't you?" Harry responded. He wasn't about to be intimidated.

"Very well, please try your best," Voldemort sneered. They duelled in earnest, there was no question that Voldemort's wand work was quicker than Harry's but in equal measure Harry's reflexes were nimble and he was able to manoeuvre his way out of the paths of a majority of the curses aimed at him. All it took was a strong Banishing Charm for Harry to slam back in to one of the walls of Hagrid's hut, he saw multi coloured stars spinning around in front of his eyes. When his vision cleared up he was staring straight down the length of Voldemorts wand. There was three feet between them and his opponent had his wand pointed right at Harry's heart. "So this is all it takes to defeat the great Harry Potter? It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic," he chimed in his icy voice. "Good bye, Harry… _Avada Kedavra…_"

* * *

He had no idea where Ellie appeared from but within mili-seconds she was standing in front of him. Right before his very eyes she transformed into the most beautiful creature that Harry had ever seen; a phoenix whose plumage glimmered gold in the fading sunlight. She trilled a single haunting note before she swallowed the green light of the curse and burst in to flames spectacularly. She burned to ashes that fell in a neat little pile on the ground at Harry's feet.

Anger rose up in him, an anger that was unlike any that he had ever felt, it went beyond the feeling that he had had when Sirius was murdered; it was white hot rage. Ellie was the last member of his blood family and now she had been stolen. Harry came back at his adversary stronger than ever and watched with satisfaction as several of them hit their mark, a Stinging Hex, a Trip Jinx and a Full Body Bind all caught Voldemort in the right places, he recoiled, fell and froze in quick succession. Harry took a moments respite to take a look around him; there was destruction everywhere. Hermione was now lying on the grass as well; Ron had been attacked by a strong Tickling Charm and was sitting in the shallows of the lake howling with laughter. Neville was nursing what looked like a broken arm; Susan was sprawled on the ground hardly moving, Remus was slowly picking himself up off the floor and Mad-eye was lying on the floor with his magical eye spinning in circles at his side while Bill was covered in painful looking boils and Fred was on fire. It was the sight of Ginny that shook him to his core, she was lying on the grass near the top of the hill with several of her limbs sticking in awkward directions, she was as white as a ghost and a large pool of blood was seeping on to the grass beside her. Harry needed to end this war and end it now, it couldn't go on any longer, or too many people would die. He knew what he had to do; he had to say the two words that would save the world from all this torment.

When he looked around at all these people fighting with him a feeling of love, hope and admiration sailed its way through his soul and he felt more powerful than ever before. With the image of his happy and smiling family in his mind he pointed his wand and changed his world forever. "Avada Kedavra!"

Instead of the green light that was usually emitted by a wand performing the Killing Curse, a blinding white light shone its way across the space between Harry and Voldemort. There was a mixture of shock, horror and pain etched into that foul and evil face. The blood red died away from his eyes and his features started to change, he once again became the handsome man he had been before he submersed himself in the dark arts. His tall and skeletal figure crumpled to the floor; Harry had killed Voldemort.


	35. The World's Greatest Wizard

**The World's Greatest Wizard: **The aftermath of the battle.

Everyone's attention had been drawnto the flash of white; it had pulsed through everyone present. Death Eaters were now staring at their dead master horror struck, the ones who had their wits about them had tried to run but were caught by a fresh wave of Dark Wizard catchers who were just arriving at the gates. Bellatrix let out a shriek of anguish and rushed to Voldemort's side, she looked down at his body and then back up at Harry, "You…" she seethed. She pointed her wand at him and screamed "Avada Kedavra!" before anyone could stop her. Her green strike rebounded off some kind of shield around Harry but he was still thumped backwards into the sidewall of Hagrid's home once more, as his eyes fluttered shut and he sank into darkness the last thing he saw was Bellatrix's spell rebounding on her.

* * *

"Harry? Harry, can you hear me?" It sounded like Remus but he was so far away. "If you can hear me then squeeze my hand," he urged. His voice sounded closer now, and he could feel a clammy hand in his. He focused all his energy on his fingers, picturing them in his mind and making them move. "He's all right!" Remus's cry was practically right in his ear. "He's okay, someone go up to the castle and get Madam Pomfrey!"

"Remus?" Harry whispered as he opened up his eyes, everything was blurry; he must have lost his glasses in the fall. "Glasses."

"I've got them right here." He felt the cold metal frames of his spectacles pressed into the palm of his hand, the second that they were settled back on the bridge of his nose everything snapped in to focus. Remus and Tonks were leaning over him with concerned expressions.

"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks winked at him. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've cracked my skull open, can I sit up?"

"I don't think that's…." Remus began.

"Let the boy sit up, Moony," Tonks insisted. Between the two of them they hoisted him up so that he could lean against the wall that had caused the severe pain in his head.

"How is everyone?" he immediately asked.

"We've lost a fair few people, we won't know exactly who until everyone is checked over," Remus replied. There was a sudden flapping noise echoed overhead, Fawkes came swooping down from the sky and landed delicately on Dumbledore's chest. The former Hogwarts headmaster had not moved from the spot on which he had fallen. Fawkes began to sing it started out as a slow and mournful tune but as it progressed it became happier and hopeful. The bird took flight again but this time it stayed low and fluttered down on Harry's head, he could feel the hot searing as it shed its tears on to the large cut in the back of his head and he felt the skin tightening as it knitted itself back together. The sight of the large scarlet bird and its golden tail only served to remind Harry of the magnificent bird that Ellie had become, her ashes were still lying only a few feet from him. He looked at the little cinder pile and felt grief well up in him, Fawkes looked at him intently and then at the mound that caused his sorrow. Dumbledore's pet then stepped off of Harry's knee and hopped over to the heap; strangely he began to sing again, this time it was a joyous tune full of delight and excitement.

Harry's emerald eyes nearly popped right out of their sockets when he realized that the ashes were moving; they were stirring. A little wrinkly head, two black beady eyes and a bright, shiny beak poked their way out of the black. "Ellie?" he ignored the protests of Remus and Tonks as he scurried forward on his hands and knees to brush the excess cinders of the top of the small and ugly bird's head. It didn't answer him; it just stretched its head from side to side and hopped over to Fawkes, who brushed his wing against it sadly. Together they began to sing, Harry could actually feel the hope rising in his chest, and he could see that everyone else was experiencing a similar sensation because they all had a placid look on their faces. The second the song was over, the smaller bird began to change shape, it got longer and wider and changed colour. Moments later Ellie was standing in front of them all, she was extremely pale and her eyes had lost a certain twinkle but she was still alive. She smiled at them quickly before she fainted and crashed to the ground.

* * *

It took some time and a fair bit of re-arranging but they managed to squeeze all the injured in to the small hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had enlisted the help of three healers in order to get around everyone. The students who had been asked to remain in the Great Hall had been sent back to their towers along with the unharmed students that had conducted their stealth attacks from locations around the castle. With the hall now empty of students it was being used as a temporary mortuary for the deceased. Only a few people had been confirmed, Dumbledore, Snape, Bellatrix, and Voldemort. Harry knew that there were a lot more bodies than that inside the hall but no one was prepared to make an exhaustive list just yet.

The Tickling Charm that had been cast on Ron was quickly lifted and apart from a few minor cuts and bruises the matron was content to give him the all clear. Hermione had been caught by a nasty Trip Jinx and had hit her head off some stonework during the fall so she was expected to wake soon. Neville's broken arm was healed in a jiffy, as was Susan's broken ankle; she had some nasty cuts but nothing that presented the healer working on her with any trouble. Ginny's injuries were much more serious; she had been hit by several Severing Charms on top of a Conjunctivitis Curse, and had the tell tale signs of someone who had been extensively subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. The healer didn't need to say that she had worried about how sane Ginny would be when she woke, it was written in her face.

Ellie's condition was crucial as well; Madam Pomfrey knew straight away what it was that had caused her injuries and mumbled, "Merlin, not again," quietly as she tenderly attended to the young woman. After a long examination she started to ask questions about what had happened.

"She turned in to her Animagus form, a phoenix and ate the magic," Harry explained.

"A phoenix? I always knew you were a clever one," Madam Pomfrey patted Ellie's arm tenderly.

"That is what has saved her, completing the transformation into a magical creature is something more difficult than any other, in fact I only know of two other Animagi phoenixes; Albus and Merlin," said Professor McGongall sadly. She had been one of the first patients to be treated for her injuries and as soon as she was healed she had raced off to supervise activities in the Great Hall of what was now her school. "Remus I must ask you to come down to the hall," she said to Remus oddly, there was something very unusual in her voice that Harry couldn't quite pick out.

"Is that really necessary?" Remus asked; he wasn't overly keen on leaving his goddaughter in her current condition.

"Not to worry, Remus, she'll be fine. Her magical sources are depleted but a potion and a good long rest should clear that up. She'll be waiting for you when you get back," Madam Pomfrey shuffled him in the direction of McGongall and they both departed the ward. When Remus returned alone ten minutes later he looked somewhat dazed.

"What did they need you for?" Harry asked.

"They needed me to identify a body," Remus replied as he took to a chair. Tonks slipped a hand around his shoulders.

"Who?" he was starting to worry now, who else had been lost?

"Peter, he's dead." The realization that the man who had stolen his friends from him was dead set about Remus and tears of relief slipped from his eyes, finally justice had been found for Lily and James.

"Good, who did it?" Harry had a strong feeling of satisfaction in his stomach.

"Kingsley."

"Remind me to shake his hand," Harry said; Remus nodded.

Amongst the list of injured were Professor Flitwick, the Patil twins, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Hannah and Ernie. After several hours McGonagall came up to the ward to speak to them all. "I have an announcement to make. We have a total of fifteen dead; nine Order supporters and six Death Eaters. The dead from our side are, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Alastor Moody, Mundungus Fletcher, Madam Rosemerta, Luna Lovegood, Blaise Zabini, Colin Creevey and Justin Finch- Fletchley. The dead amongst our enemy are Lord Voldemort, Marcus Crabbe, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew and Bellatrix Lestrange. Inclusive of the Death Eaters who have perished a total of thirty-five have been captured and are currently in the custody of the Ministry. Here today our war was ended, my thanks and congratulations go to you all," she said without any hint of happiness. It was all very matter-of-fact; Harry would almost have suggested that she was reading a pre-written speech. But it wasn't important; they had won and most of them had survived.

* * *

By the next morning the ward had emptied significantly, Ginny, Ellie and Hermione remained there but Hermione was already awake. Ginny was starting to show signs of stirring, she had begun to shift around in her sleep and Madam Pomfrey assured them that this was a sign that the Dreamless Sleep potion that had been administered was beginning to wear off. Molly came tearing in to the hospital wing just after lunch time and began inspecting her children for any signs of damage, she burst in to tears when she saw the burns that were all down Fred's right arm. "It all right, Mum, Madam Pomfrey said that they won't scar, my arm'll be good as new in a day or two," Fred said comfortingly.

"You all could have died!" Molly wailed.

"They didn't though, everybody will be fine, dear," Arthur reassured her as her wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"It's all over now, Mum," Harry told her with a half-hearted smile.

"I knew you could do it, didn't I tell you? I knew it," Molly mumbled in to Harry's shoulder as she grabbed him tightly.

"Mum?" whispered a quiet voice in the corner. Ginny was awake.

"Ginny!" Everybody called in unison.

"How do you feel, dear?" Molly asked rushing to her daughter's side.

"Sore, very sore, am I alive?" she asked.

"Yes, sweetheart, you are," her mother replied with a little chuckle.

"What happened? Did we win?"

"We did, Voldemort is dead, Harry killed him," Molly told her as she stroked her face gently.

"Harry?" she called gently.

"What is it, Gin?" Harry asked as he leaned in closer to her. Her brown eyes were bloodshot and tired looking.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too."

"Is dad here?" she turned back to her mum.

"I'm right here, Ginny," Arthur answered, coming in closer beside his wife.

"Ask him, Harry," Ginny urged. It took Harry a moment to register what was that she was asking.

"Erm…okay. Mr. Weasley?" Harry tried not to look at all the Weasley brothers that were surrounding them.

"Yes, Harry," Arthur asked, clearly puzzled by his expression.

"Mr. Weasley, could I have your permission to marry Ginny?" He asked shakily. Molly screamed in delight while her sons looked at Harry wide-eyed, too shocked to say anything. Arthur on the other hand was smiling at Harry in a very genial way.

"Of course you can, Harry," he said proudly.

"Now me," Ginny smiled. Harry grinned, she was doing this to him deliberately but he didn't care, he loved her and would do anything for her. He kneeled by the side of her bed and clasped her hand in his.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, would you make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to be my wife?"

"Yes," she whispered. There was an outpouring of joy from everyone. Bill grabbed Fleur in a passionate kiss, Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione, Fred and George clapped each other on the back sportingly, Charlie kissed Ellie's forehead gently and Arthur and Molly hugged each other with so much delight they were fit to burst.

* * *

Arrangements were already being made to hold Dumbledore's funeral as soon as Ellie was awake and up to it. They didn't have long to wait because she awoke with a moan early the next morning. "Where am I?" she mumbled.

"You're okay, sweetheart, you're in the hospital wing." Charlie perched on the edge of the bed and stroked her arm comfortingly.

"Harry, is Harry all right?" she asked in a panic, she attempted to sit up but her husband applied a gentle pressure to her shoulders and forced her back to a horizontal position.

"Harry's just fine, in fact he's engaged to Ginny!"

"Engaged? How long have I been out?"

"Only a day or so," Charlie smiled at her.

"What happened to Voldemort?"

"He's gone, Ellie, forever," he said excitedly.

"Gone?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Dead, Harry fulfilled his prophecy."

"Thank the founders!" Ellie suddenly began to cry, he wasn't sure whether it was relief or sorrow but he held her until she stopped. "Where is everyone?" she looked around at the empty ward.

"They all went down to breakfast; they should be back any minute." Sure enough the moment the words left his mouth there was the sound of boisterous laughter from the corridor outside. The whole extended Weasley family came bustling into view through the enormous doors at the end of the hospital wing and all of them stopped dead when they saw a conscious Ellie being cradled in Charlie's arms. Harry couldn't stop himself from letting go of Ginny's hand and racing down the length of the ward straight into his cousins waiting embraced. She wrapped her arms about him and squeezed him more tightly than he had ever been held by anyone else. He could feel her relief as it dripped out of her eyes and through his robes on to his shoulder.

"Tell me everything that I missed," she said with tear filled eyes. Charlie vacated his spot on the bed to allow Harry to fill it, with the help of everyone else he managed to tell her exactly what had happened.

"I still don't understand it though," he said after they had talked everything through. "What happened? Why was I able to kill him? Why did my Killing Curse come out white instead of green?" He asked her knowing that she one be the one to know the answer, after all she was Albus Dumbledore's granddaughter.

"It was all down to love. When Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters casts a Killing Curse they have an unquenchable thirst for destruction, for eradication of life. You didn't, you saw the people fighting around you and felt love, gratitude and admiration and you wanted to save that, you wanted to preserve it and it was those feelings that turned your magic white. It was the purity of the things that you were feeling. Good always triumphs over evil, Harry, because those on the side of good continue to fight, we never give up. Quite simply, your desire to save the people you loved was stronger than Voldemort's desire to destroy them; evil can never compete with a feeling that strong. Evil is learned, people are not born evil, and love on the other hand is born. Loving is one of a human being's most instinctive elements, it is something that we did before we knew what it was, it is eternal and it is unbreakable. Luckily for us, evil always underestimates it." She smiled proudly, like the mother who has watched her son become a man. "They've spent centuries trying to study it in the Department of Mysteries, they have Unspeakables trying to work out what makes it so strong."

"In that case I should probably apologize," Charlie said suddenly, breaking the loving silence.

"What for?" Ellie asked him.

"Well, here I've been jumping down poor Harry's throat all this time about sneaking off to snog Ginny and really all he was doing was getting in plenty of practice for killing Voldemort. I'm sorry, Harry, it was my mistake," Charlie replied with a wide grin. Everyone burst out laughing, a joke was exactly what they needed right now.

* * *

On the third day after the final battle Dumbledore's funeral was held at Hogwart's Church. Dignitaries, Muggle and wizard, came from all across the globe to pay their last respects to the head master. His brother Aberforth was in attendance and Ellie seemed to find solace in holding her great Uncle's hand during the many kind words of the other speakers. Minister Bones had called Albus a 'talented and generous wizard' and Professor McGonagall had spoken at length about her respect and love for such a masterful teacher. When it came to Ellie's turn Harry wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to make it through her speech but his cousin squared her shoulders proudly and took to the podium resolutely.

"The first thing that I would like to do is thank all of you, on behalf of myself and my Uncle Aberforth, for coming here today to say goodbye to my grandfather but before I can continue I feel compelled to express my disappointment." Everyone gasped at this. "Of the dozen or more people who have already spoken this morning not one of them mentioned the fact that my granddad was a complete fruit loop!" she exclaimed.

"He was crazy! A barmy old codger indeed!" she echoed Dobby's words. "I also feel the need to correct Minister Bones's estimation of him, he was not a talented and generous wizard; he was a talented and generous man who happened to be a wizard. I won't stand up here and pretend that we always saw eye to eye because we didn't. We had a good few arguments in our time and I didn't always agree with the decisions that he made. I see now, more clearly than ever, that they were for the best. My grandfather's only wish was to help people, he wanted to do that in any way he could. He has many great achievements to his name, all of which have been recited to you already so forgive me if I don't repeat them and he has the great respect of many people. To all of you he was Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot but to me he was just granddad.

"I love him more than I could ever express in words and his death has left a void in my heart that can never be filled. I remember my wedding day so well, when we stood at the end of this very aisle and he told me how much he loved me and that he was proud of me. Well he wasn't half as proud of me as I am of him; he was a loving, kind, generous and caring man who brought me up in what I appreciate now to have been a very difficult situation. I never got a chance to tell him what he means to me, he died not knowing that I loved him," Ellie broke down in tears and had to hang on to the lectern to keep herself upright; she leaned over it and sobbed in to its slanted wooden top. Aberforth, in a rare moment of understanding and compassion, rose from his seat and went to comfort her. After a few moments she was better composed and able to continued but Aberforth did not return to his pew.

"I miss him horribly already, I miss the twinkle in his eye, his crooked nose, the wrinkles that gathered at the corners of his mouth when he smiled, and I even miss those silly half moon glasses of his! I will never forget him. I will carry him around in my heart forever and will think of him always. To some his legacy will be forgotten, it will be relegated to the dusty tomes of time but for me and those of us who knew and loved him he will forever be the world's greatest wizard."


	36. To Brighter Days

**To Brighter Days: **Life returns to whatever can be considered normal for the family.

The morning after Dumbledore's funeral the students were finally sent home. They had been kept three days late by the events of what should have been their final day of term. There was an air of sadness as the seventh years left knowing that they wouldn't return ever again while the younger students knew that when they returned in September it would be to a very different Hogwarts. A leaving breakfast was held with all the school banners emblazoned black in honour of the dead. This gave Professor McGonagall the opportunity to address the school as its headmistress for the first time.

"The events of the past few days have been difficult to comprehend and it will be a long time before any of us fully appreciate the effects that they will have on our lives. I am sure that Professor Dumbledore would have wished us to carry on as close to normal as possible in his absence and it is for this reason that I would like settle a few things. The points for the House Cup lie as follows; in fourth place with 530 points are Slytherin, in third place with 603 points are Ravenclaw, in second place with 626 points are Hufflepuff which means that with 652 points Gryffindor win the house cup. Congratulations Gryffindor," she smiled down at her former house's table.

"The Ministry of Magic has asked me to announce that Orders of Merlin –Second Class will be awarded to the following students, Luna Lovegood, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie MacMillan, Michael Corner, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, Parvati and Padma Patil, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, Ginevra and Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. An Order of Merlin- First Class is to be awarded to Harry Potter for his defeat of Voldemort. All these students will also be given special awards for services to the school. I would like to congratulation all of you in your triumph over the forces of evil which threatened our beloved school and ask that we always remember the names of those who have been lost, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor Moody, Luna Lovegood, Colin Creevey, Madam Rosmerta and Justin Finch-Fletchley. To perished friends and loving memories," she finished and raised her goblet high in to the air.

"To perished friends and loving memories," her students chorused back to her. The return to normality uplifted people's spirits and they began laughing and chatting as they had in years gone by.

Harry, Ron and Hermione opted to not go home on the Hogwarts Express; it seemed a bit pointless to go all the way to London just for the nostalgia of travelling on the scarlet train once more, especially since Potter Hall was really only on the other side of the mountains that surrounded Hogwarts. Even though they weren't going on the train they went down to the platform to bid goodbye to their friends. It was a very sad event but everyone set off home with a new feeling of hope in their hearts, their families were safe and they wouldn't lose any more loved ones. After seeing everyone off, they walked back up to the castle with Hagrid chatting amiably about their plans for the next few days. Relaxation seemed to top the list of activities. Once they were back in the castle they took a portkey from the Great Hall of Hogwarts to the Great Hall of Potter Manor.

* * *

Everybody settled in and unpacked their things while Dobby and Winky started preparing a sumptuous dinner. They had decided that since it was such a nice day they would eat outside at an enormous stone picnic table that was out on a terrace in what passed as the back garden of Potter Hall. It wasn't long before Harry realized that a couple of people were missing from their number. Then for the first time ever Ron and Harry were actually ALLOWED (rather than having to sneak off) to go and fetch Neville and Susan unaccompanied. When they returned from Longbottom Cottage with the pair Professor McGonagall had joined the familybut Ron and Hermione disappeared. "Where have that pair got to?" Molly tutted in an annoyed voice.

"I'll go and get them, Mum," Ginny volunteered quickly. Too quickly in fact, Molly spotted the attempt to cover for her youngest son immediately.

"Oh no you won't, missy, I'll do that!" Molly snapped and marched back off into the house. Wherever it was she eventually found her son and his girlfriend one could only presume that it was towards the back of the building because the open windows carried her furious voice and Ron's protesting one across the grounds. "RONALD WEASLEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF THERE AT ONCE!" George choked on the roast potatoe that he hand snuck into his mouth while his mother wasn't there to see.

"Ten galleons says he's got his hands up Hermione's jumper," Ginny said loudly.

"No, no, no," said Fred. "Little Ronniekins is far too hormonal for that, ten galleons says he's got his hands elsewhere!"

"You're on!" Ginny stretched her hand across the table to shake Fred's; her engagement ring glinted in the sun.

"CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOURSELF?" Molly continued to shout.

"But, Mum, we're engaged you know!" Ron argued.

"Yes, ENGAGED not MARRIED! YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HERMIONE'S….ASSETS UNTIL YOU'VE GOT A WEDDING BAND ON HER FINGER INSTEAD OF AN ENGAGEMENT RING!" Molly yelled.

"But, Mum…" Ron went on but further shrieking from his mother drowned his reasoning out.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, THE PAIR OF YOU CAN GET YOURSELVES OUT IN TO THE GARDEN NOW BECAUSE EVERYONE IS WAITING TO EAT!"

A few minutes later a red eared Ron, a scarlet Hermione and a swelling Molly emerged from the French doors on the ground floor and joined everyone else at the table. "We need a quicker answer from you Hermione just a simple yes or no. Were Ron's hands up your jumper?" Ginny asked unabashed by the glare that her mother was giving her. Hermione gave a single sharp nod and stared down at the empty plate in front of her.

"Hold on a sec. Where are Ellie and Charlie?" Harry asked.

"Probably doing the same thing we were," Ron grumbled.

"They are a married couple; they can do whatever they like!" Molly snapped.

"I saw them on the way out here, they were in their room discussing something. Maybe we should start without them, they won't mind," Bill said. He was eying a steak pie in front of him hungrily as was Ron who was opposite him.

"I suppose it won't hurt. Everyone tuck in!" Molly announced. They were ten minutes in to the meal when Ellie and Charlie finally made it out on to the terrace. The plonked themselves down in the two chairs that had been left at the end of the table opposite Moll and Arthur.

"Sorry, boys, but that last share of Sirius's will is mine," Charlie announced as he patted Bill on the back sportingly and began to fill his plate with food.

"Last share?" Bill asked with mild interest.

"You remember, the one set aside for the first of you lot to make Molly a grandmother," Ellie happily reminded them. Molly choked on the forkful of carrots that she had just deposited in her mouth.

"Do you mean…" she trailed off with a twinkle dancing merrily around her eye.

"Congratulations, Mum, in four months you're going to be a fully fledged Granny," Charlie proclaimed. The table erupted with noise as everyone congratulated them. Molly wouldn't let go of Ellie for almost half an hour.

"This is so wonderful!" she howled at regular intervals. When Ellie was finally released from the arms of her mother-in-law she pulled her robes flat against her body. With the folds of material taught the beginnings of a large, protruding belly could be seen. "That's a nice sized bump," Molly commented. "All of mine were big babies, even Ginny. Who knows it could be twins!" she patted the bump appreciatively.

"Well there's a worst case scenario if ever I heard it!" Charlie said glumly.

"Oi!" Fred and George complained.

"I'm sorry but I think that starting off with two like you would put me off having anymore," he shuddered and went back to his food.

"We're not THAT bad!" they protested.

"Not anymore, I think that Angelina and Alicia have calmed you down."

"I hope every last baby you have turns out to be twins!" George said furiously.

"Amen to that!" Fred added as Charlie cringed. They all fell silent when there was a sudden outburst.

"I'm going to be an UNCLE!" Ron bellowed, spraying mashed potato all over Bill.

"Well spotted there, Ron," Bill said as he rubbed the carbohydrate out of his eyes.

"Being an uncle would be pretty cool," Neville nodded a little bit sadly, he was an only child and would never be an uncle.

"And you will be, Uncle Neville," Ellie patted her bump to emphasize that her child would most certainly be calling him uncle; Neville smiled at her in return.

"Have you got any names in mind?" Molly asked.

"We've got a couple, Brian Arthur, Remus James or Andrew Sirius if it's a boy and Alexandra Molly or Minerva Jane if it's a girl," Ellie beamed. Both Molly and McGonagall sniffed in to their handkerchiefs suspiciously.

"But it's going to be a boy," Charlie confirmed.

"You don't know that," Ellie challenged him.

"Look around the table, my sweet, spot the pattern." Charlie waved his fork over his brothers.

"I'll have you know that the Dumbledore line has some very strong female genes that could give your Weasley male ones a run for their money!"

"We'll see about that." Charlie shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh shut up!" Ellie snapped.

"Ode to joy, here come the mood swings," he said amusingly. Everyone sniggered into his or her plates, Ellie was giving him the most Mollyish look she could have ever given him.

"I'll show you a mood swing when I swing you right into a brick wall!" she shouted.

"I really don't think you should go swinging anyone in your condition. While we're on the subjects of things you shouldn't do while you are 'with child' can we add no dying for people to it," Charlie asked with a smile. Ellie pursed her lips and tried to hold back her smile but cracked within seconds.

"Only since you asked so nicely." She gave him a gentle slap on the cheek and then kissed the spot tenderly.

* * *

Several hours later everyone was very full having scoffed his or her fair share of food and Harry felt the need to loosen his belt buckle so that his stomach didn't feel quite so hemmed in. It occurred to him that he had no idea what was going to happen in his life from here on in. "So where do we go from here?" he asked the table a large.

"Well, you four start by opening these," Professor McGonagall withdrew several parchment envelopes from the pocket of her robes and offered one each to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville.

"Don't you want to know what you've got?" Molly asked.

"No!" He and Ron yelled in unison.

"Get those letters open now or I'll do it for you!" she warned them dangerously. They did as they were told and gasps of shock emanated from each one of them.

"I got them all, four E's and an O!" Harry exclaimed.

"Me too!" Ron chorused.

"What about you Neville?" Molly asked.

"An A, 2 E's and 2 O's!" he said in astonishment.

"I'd stake my life on Hermione having all O's," Fred said with a distinct hint of pride. Hermione nodded feverishly.

"Well done all of you!" Molly practically sang. Harry wasn't paying attention though there was another piece of parchment in his envelope.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received your recent examination results and would like to offer you the opportunity to take a place on our Auror Training Scheme. In order for you to be accepted on to the scheme it is necessary for you to take part in a series of stringent tests, which will determine your skills and abilities and whether these would be suited to a career as an Auror.

Testing will take place between the 1st and 7th of July. If you wish to partake in these tests I would ask you to present yourself at the Auror Headquarters, based in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on Level 2 of the Ministry of Magic, at 9.00 am sharp on the 1st of July.

Yours Sincerely

Amelia Bones

Minister of Magic – Great Britain."

When he looked over at the parchment in Ron's hands it was identical to his own. Hermione, however, was holding one that was different to theirs; she was staring from the letter in her hands to Professor McGonagall who was, for once, smiling broadly. "Are you serious?" Hermione gaped.

"Ms. Granger, when have you ever known me to joke?" McGonagall asked.

"It's just…I…" she trailed away.

"What's wrong, 'Mione?" Ron gently prised her letter away from her. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. "She's been asked to teach!"

"Teach what?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Transfiguration!" Ron shrieked.

"You'll make a great teacher, Hermione," Ginny told her confidently.

"This is such a surprise," Hermione continued to shake her head in disbelief.

"Is it really? Ms. Granger, you were always by far the most advanced student in my class. Now that I am headmistress I won't have time to teach myself and I am more than confident that the subject would be safe in your capable hands," McGonagall contributed her voice of approval to the conversation. "Will you accept?" Hermione looked to Ron for a moment.

"It's your life, if this is what you want to do then go for it," he stuttered.

"Okay then. I accept," she told the headmistress.

"Welcome to the teaching staff at Hogwarts, details will be sent to you closer to your return," McGonagall told her.

"Two Weasley wives on the staff, god help the students!" Ellie laughed.

"What does yours say, Neville?" Hermione asked him, she could see even from this distance that his letter was different from theirs.

"I've been offered a place with Natura Probatur, they're a research unit that's attached to St. Mungo's they study plants and fungi for special properties," Neville said happily.

"That's great, Nev," Harry congratulated. This was where school ended and life began, they were no longer kids holding on to their desperate dreams of house points and Quidditch cups, their seven years at Hogwarts had seen them grow beyond these things. Life was knocking at their door and finally they were ready to answer it.

"I rather think a toast is in order," Ellie announced. She rose from her seat and held her goblet of pumpkin juice high in the air. "To brighter days," she said.

"To brighter days," they chimed.


	37. When We Grew Up

**When we grew up: **We catch up with the gang in 2013, fifteen years from the last time that we saw them.

The focal point of the distinctly comfortable sitting room was a large limestone fireplace that was set into one wall. This was because of the vast array of pictures that adorned the wall space above the long mantle piece. There was one huge photo surrounded by ten smaller ones and surprisingly all of the occupants were moving. In fact all of them, with the exception of a couple of moody teenagers were smiling brightly and waving energetically. The photo in the uppermost left corner had the largest number of people in it.

A strong looking man stood proudly beside his beaming wife and seven children surrounded them. A surly looking teenage boy, who was the image of his father, was trying to edge his way out of the picture and every so often his father would glance around and pull him back inside the frame. Two more boys, one thirteen and the other eleven, were playing with a five-year-old girl on the grass in front of their parents. Just beside them twin eight year old girls were tugging on their father's robes and pleading with him silently. A toddler of not more than two was cradled lovingly against his mother's shoulder with his legs draping around her belly, which had expanded to such a degree that she was obviously expecting again.

In the next picture along a man with long raven hair was being clambered over by two boys, one at twelve, who had hair as black as the night and the other about nine who had hair as red as a roaring fire. Two little auburn haired girls of four and two sat on either side of their mother howling with laughter at the debacle that was taking place before them. This flame haired woman also had evidence of a stomach on the grow.

The last picture in the row featured a rather shy, middle-aged gentleman who had his arm looped around the shoulders of a woman who had long, curly fuchsia hair. Three children; a tall, skinny pre-teen boy with a pig snout instead of a nose and two girls accompanied them. The elder of the girls was seven and was clinging nervously to her father's free hand. The other was nearer to five and quite shockingly was able to change her hair from a muddy brown colour to silver and back again.

The photo below this had captured a tall and gangly red-haired man with vibrant freckles. He was standing beside his proud wife who had very bushy brown hair and three small children; two boys and one girl, the eldest boy and their daughter had the same vivid hair as their father but the little boy in the middle had his mother's brown hair and that same bookish look about him.

The one beneath this was of another man with red hair, although he was somewhat older than the last. He was chasing several boys between the ages of thirteen and five. The man's strong red hair was countered by the cool silvery blonde of his wife's which resulted in their brood having very light hair. The aforementioned blonde woman was watching the chaos cheerfully from a bench in the background.

To the left of that scene was a much shorter and stockier man accompanied by a woman with long dark hair and a set of twin boys with their father's hair. The photo right next to this had a man who was identical to the one in the picture to his right down to the last freckle; he even had twin boys that were almost duplicates of the other pair. The only distinguishing feature was a slight olive tint to their skin, which could only have come from their mother who was a tall, pretty and athletic black woman.

The picture above this family was headed by a round-faced man with dark hair who was standing beside a woman whose red hair wasn't nearly as vibrant as the mops that graced the heads of the people before her. Their children were a boy of ten who looked like his mother and a girl of five who took after her father.

The two remaining photos in the collection were much emptier. The first only had two older people in it and although their hair was greying a great deal their flaming locks were still evident. In the final photo the heavily pregnant woman from the first family, the raven-haired man and the shy gentleman were huddled together closely with their arms around each other and grinning widely in to the camera.

The giant picture in the middle had all the people from the surrounding photos gathered together with the older couple in the centre – they were a big happy family without a care in the world.

* * *

A party was raging in the garden of Potter Hall, it was the 31st of July and a joint birthday party was being held for Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. "I can't believe I'm thirty-two already. It feels like only yesterday I was turning seventeen," Harry sighed. 

"And now you're an old married man with four kids and a fifth on the way. We know, Harry, you say that every year," Ellie scolded.

"Mummy!" a little voice cried. Ellie looked down and saw her youngest son was tugging on her robes.

"What's the matter Dai?" she asked as she picked him up and snuggled him against her hefty stomach, she was due any day now.

"Brian won't play with me!" he wailed.

"Is that so," Ellie snapped. She placed her hand across the little ear that was inches from her mouth before she shouted out across the grounds. "Brian Arthur Weasley, you come over here now!" The stocky boy who was Charlie's double came stomping across the grass. Brian was Ellie and Charlie's first born, he was now fifteen years old and had been at Hogwarts for five years, he was a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"What is it?" he demanded of his mother.

"First off, don't you take that tone with me and why won't you play with your brother?"

"Mum, I haven't practiced my game the whole time that I've been home, if I don't keep up then I'll get kicked off the team! I don't have time to play with that little monster." He waved his arm over his sobbing brother.

"If you continue to treat him like this then you won't have to worry about getting kicked off the team when you get back because I'll implement an instant ban on you!" When Professor McGonagall had become Hogwarts's headmistress she had nominated Ellie to be her replacement as Head of Gryffindor house, a position Ellie had held for fifteen years, she was still the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and she still loved every minute of it. While Hermione was amused that she was now teaching the kids of all the people she'd gone to school with Ellie felt horribly aged by the acknowledgement of the fact that she was now teaching the kids of the kids that she had spent her first two years teaching.

"That's not fair!" he protested.

"Life's not fair, get used to it!" she snapped. "Don't make me get your father out here. Why don't you take Dai for a ride on your broomstick?"

"I can't practice with him on my broom!"

"Well you won't be able to practice if I confiscate it either," Ellie said dangerously.

"Fine," he sputtered and grabbed Dai out of his mother's arms.

"No it's not," Ellie said gently pulling her baby back. "As of now you're grounded and if I catch you within three feet of that broom I'll snap it in half. Go and sulk somewhere." She shook her head as he stalked away from her. "That boy's getting too big for his boots. Sweetheart, why don't you go and play with Luna and Jane, they're round in the sand pit?" she said to the little boy as she plonked him back on the ground.

"Okay, Mummy," he sang and ran off around the bushes to where the sand pit and his cousins were. Luna was Harry and Ginny's youngest at two, she had been named in memory of Luna Lovegood who had been a good friend to both of them and had unfortunately died in the final confrontation with Voldemort. Jane was Ron and Hermione's youngest; she was three years old and had been given Hermione's mother's name.

Suddenly a loud bang sounded and a puff of smoke came floating out of a third floor window. "That had better not be what I think it is," Ginny stormed. "Remus Weasley, James Potter and Sirius Lupin, get your backsides down here now!" she shouted up at the window.

"You had best come as well, Fred and George," Ellie called up after her. "We're going to have to watch those five like hawks." The procession of men filed out of the house into a line in front of the two fuming women.

"What were you lot doing?" Ginny commanded.

"Nothing, Aunt Ginny," the red haired Remus replied; he was Ellie and Charlie's second eldest son.

"Well that 'nothing' made an awfully loud racket," Ellie said to him through narrowed eyes.

"It was just an experiment," reasoned James, he was the image of the five Potter men that had preceded him. He had the same messy black hair of his father but had no need for the black-rimmed spectacles; he was Harry and Ginny's first born.

"What kind of experiment?" Ginny persisted with her line of questioning.

"Just a little something or other," Fred waved his hands in a very nonchalant fashion.

"Don't even get me started on you two!" she yelled at her brothers. "You pair are the adults here, you're supposed to be responsible and set and example. You are not supposed to teach them how to blow things up!"

"What fun is life without a little explosion here and there?" George said defensively. "It's all good and clean Marauder fun."

"There was nothing good and clean about the things that the Marauders got up to and I don't appreciate you teaching my son their tricks along with most of yours," Ellie said sternly.

"We thought you of all people would understand!" Fred said disgustedly. "You used to be the only decent one in the lot!"

"How d'you mean?" Remus turned around to address his uncle.

"Your mother was one of our first testers, she tried out all sorts for us," George nodded his head in Ellie's direction. Remus looked back and saw his mother in a new light.

"Mum, cool!" he exclaimed.

"Very, but I'm not going to have you cause havoc at school. I don't mind a bit of harmless fun, but things exploding is too much," she warned.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Sirius?" Ginny asked Remus and Tonks's eldest; but he wasn't paying attention, he was too busy watching over his shoulder as one of Ellie's twin daughters walked past.

"All right, Alex?" he said with an embarrassed grin.

"Yeah, you in trouble again?" she asked him.

"Yep," he nodded in what he hoped was a kind of cool way. He had no idea that he had an enraptured crowd.

"If I thought grounding any of you would do any good then I would but it would just encourage you to get up to mischief, why don't you go and get washed up?" Ellie tried to contain the smile that was brewing on her lips. After the boys had disappeared back in to the house the original Remus came strolling out.

"My son has just complained that he got a telling off from you two. What did he do this time?" Remus asked.

"They blew something up," Ginny answered.

"Not again," Remus muttered and rolled his eyes.

"I've no idea where they get it from," Ellie grinned. "By the way we're going to have to watch out, we have a budding romance on the cards."

"Who?" he asked eagerly.

"Your son was eyeing up one of my daughters," Ellie told him.

"Which one?"

"Alex."

"Was he really? Well that could be quite interesting," Remus said with a smile.

"It certainly could, you and I could end up sharing grandchildren," she pulled a funny face; to her this was a bizarre concept. Remus had been her godfather and here she was talking about having grandchildren with him.

"There's a strange thought for you," Harry said, that was a really weird notion. As Ginny came back to sit next to him he kissed her on the cheek and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm the luckiest man alive," he mumbled into her ear through her freshly washed hair.

"I would have to disagree with you there, Harry," said the approaching Charlie. He had his youngest daughter Beatrice slung under his arm; she was a jolly and wriggly five year old. "I am quite obviously the luckiest man here." Charlie gave his blooming wife a loving kiss.

"It's a good job that you said that, Charlie Weasley, a very good job!" Ellie exclaimed as she rubbed her hefty bump uncomfortably.

"Dinner's ready!" Molly called from the far end of the table. The large slab of stone had undergone many extensions over the years to be able to accommodated the entire family which now had a total of forty six members with another two due to be added to that in the next two months. There was a scramble as everybody grabbed a seat.

The many births in the family had worked out cunningly well, with the exception of Brian, James and Jane, they would all be attending school in pairs or triplets. Remus and Olivier, Bill and Fleur's oldest, had started Hogwarts at the same time and had just finished their second year. Andrew and Sirius had just finished their first and had spent a lot of their time hanging out with James because he had gone in the year before them and it made them look cool to be friends with someone in the year above. This September Edward, Neville and Susan's eldest, and Gideon, Bill and Fleur's second eldest, would join the school. Harry couldn't help but think that it was great that the kids all had this little network of family throughout the school. It also comforted their mothers to know that they would all look after each other, although this wasn't so much the case for Remus, Sirius and James.

Everyone had done well since school, Ron and Harry were amongst the most noted Aurors of their generation and had risen up the ranks of their department quickly, quite modestly they put this down to having had so much practice while they were at school. Post-Hogwarts Neville had a successful career, the most important moment of which had been his discovery that Gillyweed juice could be used to heal cuts. Susan had chosen to be a housewife and raise their two children, Edward and Alice. In her final year at school Ginny had been offered a place on the Montrose Magpies as a chaser, she had taken this up gleefully and was now Angelina's team-mate on the most successful team in the Quidditch League. The biggest success story of the family was undoubtedly the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes Empire that Fred and George had built. They now had ten shops across the world including branches in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, New York, Paris and Beijing.

Dobby came out floating a large birthday cake in front of him, he had made Harry and Neville'snames out of cake and smotheredthem in crimson and gold icing. Everyone sang Happy Birthday tothem and they were just about to blow out the candles when somebody halted them. "Don't forget to make a wish!" Ellie urged over the crowd. Harry thought about this for a moment, what could he wish for?

He wished for his family to always be so happy and that he would never forget the boy he used to be and all the things that had been brought to him by his scar.

**A/N: That's it. The story is finished! I've been considering writinga little ten chapter fic which gives a peak into some of the most important moments of the gang's lives. Would anybody be interested in reading that. If i get enough requests then i'll do it but if not then i'll leave it be. I hope that you enjoyed the story. Even if you didn't, please leave a review and tell me what you think i did right or wrong. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you've really made my day. THANK YOU!**


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